JALALABAD, Dec 2: Taliban suicide attackers struck at a Nato base on an Afghan city airport at dawn on Sunday, killing five people and wounding several foreign troops in a two-hour battle, officials said.

Nato helicopters went into action, firing on the militants as they tried to storm the base after two suicide car bombs hit the perimeter gate of the Jalalabad airport near the Pakistan border.

A total of eight attackers armed with rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons were killed, Afghan officials said.

The Taliban claimed their militants had managed to enter the base and caused heavy casualties but this was denied by Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

“Insurgents including suicide bombers attacked the perimeter of the Jalalabad air base this morning,” a spokesman said. “None of the attackers succeeded breaching the perimeter,” he added.—AFP