Afghan suicide bombers attack US base near the border with Pakistan

KABUL (AP) - An Afghan official says a group of suicide bombers have attacked US base near the border with Pakistan, sparking an ongoing gunbattle.

There was no immediate information on casualties.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, says the heavily armed militants attacked the site in the Torkham area Monday morning.

An explosion heard toward the beginning was likely one of the suicide bombers detonating his explosives.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid says the insurgent group was behind the attack.

Nato says it has no immediate information on the matter.

Abdulzai says Afghan and US forces are engaged in gunfire against the militants, and that Nato helicopters are flying over the base.

The highway between Jalalabad city and Torkham, an important route for Nato supply trucks, has been closed.

Earlier on Sunday, the badly beaten, bullet-riddled bodies of seven Afghan soldiers were found dumped in an eastern province, apparent victims of insurgents, authorities said.

Local residents found the corpses next to each other in Andar district of Ghazni province, their hands chained behind their backs.

The dead soldiers had been kidnapped at different times, with some abducted while they were on leave visiting relatives, said Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, deputy Ghazni governor.

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