Six Nato soldiers have been killed and three injured in a suicide attack near Bagram airbase in Afghanistan

Six Nato soldiers have been killed and three injured in a suicide attack near Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

Brig. Gen William Shoffner, from the Nato-led Resolute Support mission, said the attack happened at about 1.30pm local time in the vicinity of the base, which is the biggest US military facility in Afghanistan. He did not give the nationalities of the dead.

Local Afghan officials said a suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked a joint US-Afghan patrol as they were patrolling on foot through the village of Bajawryan.

A member of the provincial council said a similar suicide attack against foreign soldiers based at Bagram about two months ago had failed to cause any casualties.

Attaullah, a resident of Bajawryan village, said he passed the patrol on his way home five minutes before the attack.

“I heard a huge blast and turned my head,” he said. “I saw a lot of smoke. I heard some alarms and vehicles, and saw helicopters landed in the rice field. They carried the bodies and injured into the helicopters,” he said.

In an emailed statement, the Taliban claimed responsibility. Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed said the suicide bomber, purportedly named Zahidullah, had been observing the foreign forces in the area and had struck at a suitable time.

Mujahed, who claimed 19 soldiers had been killed and a number wounded, also said the attack was part of the Taliban’s Azm, or “Resolve”, fighting campaign, launched in the spring. The Taliban are known to exaggerate casualties of their attacks.

The police chief of Parwan province said three Afghan police had been wounded in the attack. He said he was not authorised to give details on foreign troop casualties.

Bagram, about 25 miles to the north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, is one of the main bases for the 9,800 US troops left in Afghanistan after international troops ended combat operations last year.

The largest international military base in Afghanistan, it has been targeted in several attacks this year. In September, a Georgian soldier was killed in an insurgent attack on the base and in June, a US civilian working at the base was killed in what the defence department termed an “indirect fire incident”.

Monday’s attack – the deadliest on foreign troops in Afghanistan since August – comes just over a week after suicide attacks on Kandahar airbase in the south and on a Spanish embassy guesthouse in Kabul, underlining the Taliban’s ability to hit high-profile targets linked to the US-backed government.

On Monday, Taliban forces in Helmand closed in on the district of Sangin as they tightened their grip on the volatile southern province.