Attack on U.S. base in Kabul thwarted

Afghan security forces inspect scene at a U.S. base in Kabul Nov. 21, 2012 after, officials say, two would-be suicide bombers were shot as they approached / AP

Updated 5:25 a.m. ET

KABUL, Afghanistan Two Taliban suicide bombers struck near a U.S. base in Kabul early Wednesday, killing two Afghan guards in the heart of a neighborhood filled with foreign forces and embassies. The attack came despite increased security ahead of a Muslim holy day that last year saw one the capital's deadliest attacks.

The bombers apparently meant to target the American base but were spotted by security guards as they approached on foot. The guards fired on the assailants, killing them, but not before one of the vests exploded, said Gen. Mohammad Daoud Amin, the deputy provincial police chief.

Two Afghan security guards were killed and five civilians were wounded in the morning explosion, he said.

The blast reverberated around Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood. An alarm started going off at the nearby U.S. Embassy, warning staff to take cover. The neighborhood also is home to many high-ranking Afghan officials, international organizations and the headquarters of the international military coalition.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing in an email to reporters.

Sources tell CBS News the assailants were wearing military uniforms, but it was not immediately clear whether they were members of the Afghan security forces.

The attack came as foreign and Afghan forces tightened their watch over the capital ahead of the holy day of Ashoura on Saturday, when Shiite Muslims commemorate the seventh century death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

Last year, the commemoration saw the country's first major sectarian attack since the fall of the Taliban regime. In that strike, a suicide bomber on foot detonated his vest amid scores of worshipers at a Shiite shrine, killing at least 80 people.

Attacks in Kabul are relatively rare and more recent strikes have not been particularly deadly, but have shown the continued ability of the insurgents to penetrate the security cordons that surround the city. The last previous attack before Wednesday's strike took place last week, when insurgents fired four rockets into the city, killing one person. The rockets hit near the airport, a private television station and close to a compound used by the Afghan intelligence service.

Wednesday's bombers were also armed with grenade launchers, said Amin, the deputy police chief. He said they were stopped near a building that was under construction near the U.S. base.

An international coalition vehicle was also damaged in the attack but there were no initial reports of casualties among the foreign forces, said Jamie Graybeal, a NATO troops spokesman.

Police had already set up extra checkpoints around Kabul and specifically near shrines to search cars and people in the run up to the Ashoura.

On Tuesday, Amin said that all his forces were "in the first security alert position" and doing their "best to provide good security and prevent any possible incident on Ashoura."

[HolyVoice]

Now that Karzai is trying to release as many violent prisoners as possible, there will be more suicide bombers bringing death to the people in Afghanistan.

[Jonseen]

If people got killed and wounded, how was this attack THWARTED I wonder?? Just ask the families of the people who died or got hurt, if this attack was thwarted or not??

[smirk5]

It was thwarted because the attackers didn't reach their objective.
"The bombers apparently meant to target the American base but were spotted by security guards as they approached on foot. The guards fired on the assailants, killing them, but not before one of the vests exploded, said Gen. Mohammad Daoud Amin, the deputy provincial police chief."

By your logic, the battle of the bulge in WWII by the Germans wasn't thwarted because Americans died in the effort. The German assault to take Leningrad wasn't thwarted because Russians died. And on and on.

[Sax1031]

man i hate those spontaneous protest

who made the video this time?

[ManOfSteel-Velvet]

If you and the rest of delusional conservatives have better intelligence on Benghazi right after the attack than the CIA than post it here for every one to read.

Remember the Nov 6 election? Even with all latest political tools and all available polls at their disposal, the GOP and its supporters couldn't even read the electorate right and got stumped on the election night with their pathetic, off the mark prediction.

If the GOP and the conservatives who have been in the heart of America, couldn't even read what on the mind of American voters, what made you guys think you know what was going on in Benghazi, Libya?