Taliban: We Poisoned Food at NATO Base

Taliban claims responsibility for car bomb at Afghan airport, too
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 27, 2012 5:06 AM CST
Suicide Car Bomber Kills 9 at Afghan Airport
Afghan National Army soldiers block a road near the site of a suicide attack in Jalalabad today.    (Getty Images)

At least nine people were killed and 12 injured when a suicide car bomber struck an airport in eastern Afghanistan this morning. The blast killed six civilians, two airport guards, and an Afghan soldier at Jalalabad airport, which is used for both civilian and military flights, the AP reports. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it revenge for the burning of Korans at a US base last week. At least 39 people, including four US troops, have been killed in protests over the Korans.

The Taliban also claimed responsibility for another, less deadly, attack, CNN reports. The group claimed it was responsible for the poisoning of food at a military base near the Pakistan border. A NATO spokesman says contaminated food was found at Forward Operating Base Torkham after a tip-off, but nobody got sick. "The dining facility was shut down and we brought in environmental health, who found traces of chlorine bleach in the coffee and fruit," he says. "Soldiers are now eating pre-prepared rations and no one was affected. There is a full investigation that is narrowing down who was responsible." (More Afghanistan stories.)

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