Suicide bomber wounds 45 in Afghanistan

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a joint Afghan-U.S. base in the country's east on Wednesday, wounding at least 45 Afghan soldiers, Gmanetwork.com reported, citing local officials.

The Taliban took responsibility for the car bomb attack in the Zurmat district of Paktia province, saying they had also dispatched a group of fighters in suicide vests who managed to enter the base.

A spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said insurgents fired at the base after the explosion. There were no NATO casualties, she added.

Paktia, a small province about 100 km (62 miles) south of the capital Kabul, has been beset by increasing violence over the past two years.

"The bomber detonated explosives right in front of a joint base shared by the Afghan army and foreign forces, wounding 45 soldiers," the deputy governor for Paktia, Gul Rahman Mangal, told Reuters.

Seven civilians were among the wounded, hospital officials in Zurmat added.
Violence has been increasing across the country as the deadline of end-2014 looms for most foreign combat troops to leave Afghanistan, leaving the 350,000-strong Afghan security forces in control.