WRAP Insurgent attack on Bagram Air Field, at least 10 dead, NATO reax

Описание: (19 May 2010) SHOTLIST
Bagram
1. Mid of police truck at police post
2. Close up of Afghan policeman with gun on back of truck
3. Wide of policeman at police post
4. Wide of area where insurgent detonated suicide vest
5. Close up of crater in ground
6. Man showing remains of suicide bomber's clothes
7. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Mohammad Ajmal, Eyewitness:
"He (insurgent) entered the garden, police and American troops surrounded the garden and he did have the chance to detonate himself and only he himself was killed."
8. Various of helicopter flying overhead
Bagram
9. Various of police at check point on road leading to Bagram
10. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Gholam Daoud, Parwan province police officer:
"The fighting has been on going since three a.m., the police chief with his personnel are engaged in the battle and the fighting is still ongoing. Six of them (Taliban) have been killed and two others are surrounded. The fighting is ongoing inside the airport at Gojorkhail gate. There are no civilian causalities. Six attackers, I do not know if they are Pakistanis or from somewhere else, have been killed and there are no casualties among the Americans."
11. Various of police checking man on bike
12. Mid of check-point
13. Policeman with gun on back of truck
14. Helicopter flying overhead
Kabul
15. Mid of press briefing
16. SOUNDBITE (English), Mark Sedwill, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan:
"We know that a group of insurgents sought to penetrate the perimeter of the airbase and that's been dealt with by our own forces, and I think the Afghan forces on the ground at the moment."
17. Wide of media
STORYLINE
Insurgents launched a brazen pre-dawn assault on Wednesday against the giant U.S.-run Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, the second Taliban strike at NATO forces in and around the capital in as many days.
At least 10 insurgents have been killed and seven U.S. service members have been wounded so far in the attack on Bagram, which started at about 3 am local time (2230 GMT Tuesday) with rockets, small arms and grenades fired into the base, according to Major Virginia McCabe, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces at Bagram.
The attack came a one day after a suicide bomber struck a U.S. convoy in the capital of Kabul, killing 18 people.
The dead included five American troops and a Canadian, making it 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 announcement was made on the eve of Karzai's visit to Washington and comes as US, NATO and Afghan forces are gearing up for a major operation to secure Kandahar, the biggest city in the south and the former Taliban headquarters before they were ousted from power in the 2001
US-led invasion.
US officials believe control of Kandahar is the key to stabilising the Taliban' southern heartland.
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 US-led mission.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for both the Kabul bombing and the attack at Bagram, 30 miles (50 kilometres) north of Kabul.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said 20 suicide attackers were involved.
NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, Mark Sedwill said that insurgents had been repelled from an attempt to breach the base's defences.
Running gunbattles broke out as US troops hunted down the other attackers.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...