KABUL, June 1: A suicide truck bomber attacked a US-run base on Friday, sparking clashes that killed up to 15 people in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, officials said.

The Nato’s US-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said none of its personnel was killed in the attack in Khost province, a Taliban stronghold.

The Taliban, who are leading a 10-year armed campaign against foreign troops and the Kabul government, claimed responsibility for the attack. But the precise details of what happened were murky.

An Afghan security official said the bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into the outer security checkpost of Forward Operating Base Salerno, which is run by the US military.

“Initial information shows that seven Afghans have been killed and 13 others injured,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

According to the official, the victims were Afghan workers involved in a construction project at the base.

But Khost provincial police chief Sardar Mohammad Zazai later said that only three attackers were killed as they stormed the base. “Four civilians were injured when the roof of a nearby house collapsed as a result of the explosion,” Zazai said, adding that the bodies of three attackers had also been recovered.

Isaf, however, said 14 militants were killed. It later confirmed the death of one Afghan civilian, but released no further details.

A spokesman for the Taliban claimed that a “large number” of foreign soldiers were killed. “One of our mujahideen rammed a vehicle packed with ten tons of explosives into a Nato base in Khost city and detonated the truck near the restaurant of the base,” he said.—AFP