Wire: 5 Americans Wounded in Attack at US Base in Afghanistan

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2010 -- Newswire services today reported that a suicide bomber wearing an Afghan border policeman's uniform blew himself up Thursday at a U.S. base near the Pakistani frontier, wounding five Americans, an Afghan official said.

The spokesman for Paktia province, Roullah Samoun, said the attack occurred after sundown at a U.S. facility in the Dand aw Patan district in eastern Afghanistan, about 35 miles (70 kilometers) east of Gardez, according to an Associated Press report.

AP said the spokesman did not identify the base by name or say what kind personnel are stationed there.

A U.S. spokesman, Lt. Col. Todd Vician, says U.S. officials have a report that some Americans were wounded in an incident, but he had no further details.

On Dec. 30 a Jordanian believed to be a double agent blew himself up at a CIA base in another border province, Khost, killing seven agency employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer.

The attack reported Thursday occurred about 400 miles (640 kilometers) northeast of the Taliban town of Marjah, which is under siege by U.S. and Afghan troops.

(Report from newswire sources.)