FNC and CNN: Insurgents launch complex attack on Bagram Air Field day after deadly Kabul assault

[airborneskins]

I got a call this morning from one of by buddies at Bagram and he told me about this. They are still on lockdown over there.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/18/insurgents-launch-complex-attack-bagram-air-field/

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents launched a brazen pre-dawn assault Wednesday against the giant U.S.-run Bagram Air Field one day after a suicide bomber struck a U.S. convoy in the capital of Kabul, killing 18 people. The Kabul dead included five American troops and a Canadian and was the deadliest attack on NATO in the Afghan capital in eight months.

The back-to-back attacks appeared part of a Taliban offensive that the insurgents announced earlier this month — even as the U.S. and its partners prepare for a major operation to restore order in the turbulent south. The insurgent attacks against both the capital and a major American military installation show the militants are prepared to strike at the heart of the U.S.-led mission.

A U.S. statement said seven insurgents had been killed so far during the "ongoing attack" on Bagram, which included rockets, small arms and grenades. Five service members have been wounded, the statement said without specifying whether they were Americans.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Bagram, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Kabul. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said 20 suicide attackers carried out the attack.

Capt. Chris Sukach, a U.S. spokeswoman at Bagram, said a "noncritical building" had been hit in the attack, which began about 3 a.m. Another U.S. spokeswoman, Ali Bettencourt, said sporadic explosions could be still heard around the base hours after the attack.

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These guys are starting to show their balls. Please keep our men and women over there in your thoughts and prayers.

From CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/18/afghanistan.bagram.attack/index.html?hpt=T2

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Seven insurgents were killed early Wednesday during an attack on Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, an Army spokesman said.

Lt. Col. Clarence Counts said that five service members were wounded in the attack and a building suffered minor damage. He characterized the attack as "on-going" and said it "included rockets, small arms and grenades."

Another Bagram spokeswoman, Maj. Virginia McCabe, said fighting started "early this morning" and was continuing in "the vicinity of Bagram." She said she could hear some of the fighting going on outside the base.

"Established security procedures are in place," McCabe said, adding that personnel with "mission-essential" responsibilities were continuing to work.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told CNN that 20 armed men wearing suicide vests stormed the base at around 4 a.m. (7:30 p.m. ET), with four of them detonating explosives at the entrances to allow the other men to move in. Mujahid said that a "major firefight" was going on inside the base.

More at link...

[Gary Clark Fan]

send them to hell and come home safe.