Killed 2 Indians in missile attack: Afghan Taliban

The Afghan Taliban have claimed that they killed three persons, including two Indians, and injured seven Afghan soldiers in a missile attack on a United States airbase and an Indian non-governmental organisation's office in eastern Kunar province.

The claim was made by Afghan Taliban spokesman Qari Omar Haqqani, who spoke to reporters in Khar in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal region on the phone on Sunday.

However, sources in the Indian embassy in Kabul denied the claim. Haqqani claimed the militants attacked the office of the Indian NGO with missiles and killed three persons, including two Indian workers.

The nationality of the third person could not be ascertained, he said. Taliban fighters also fired missiles at the US airbase in Kunar province, injuring seven Afghan soldiers, Haqqani claimed.

The attack was launched late on Sunday and a total of 10 missiles were fired at the US airbase and the Indian NGO's office, he said. Haqqani claimed that the office was located close to the airbase. Haqqani further claimed that the militants had also attacked the US airbase at Ghakhi Pass near the border with Pakistan border on Saturday with automatic weapons and inflicted 'heavy losses' on the foreign forces.

There was no official word from Afghan authorities on the various incidents. Several similar claims made by the Afghan Taliban to the Pakistani media in the past have been denied by Indian officials.