KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Afghan and coalition forces battled back attacking militant fighters, killing more than 30 of the insurgents in weekend fighting, officials said Sunday.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said 13 of those killed during Saturday attacks on Forward Operating Base Salerno, Forward Operating Base Chapman and government buildings in Khost province were would-be suicide bombers, CNN reported. The attackers, who wore U.S. military uniforms and were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, were members of the Haqqani Network, which has ties to al-Qaida, the U.S. news network said.
"The insurgents' attempts to attack ISAF or Afghan government facilities were defeated again," Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz, an ISAF spokesman, said in a statement. "The insurgent leadership who direct these ill-conceived attacks far from the actual battlefield knows their low-level fighters have no chance of success against these targets."
No coalition forces were injured, U.S. Army Col. Rafael Torres, director of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command Combined Joint Operations Center, said.
"Afghan and coalition forces easily thwarted every attempt by the Haqqani terrorists to infiltrate our bases," Torres said.
"While it cost the insurgents an exorbitant amount of combat resources to conduct these attacks, the fighters were engaged and killed before they could even come close to executing their plans. On the other hand, coalition forces only lost a few hours of sleep and some bullets."
The coalition forces also said Sunday a senior Taliban commander and two associates were captured in a separate action in Logar province last week, CNN said.
