Taliban claims responsibility for bomb attack, poisoning in Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives Monday at the front gate of a military airfield in eastern Afghanistan, an attack that follows a week of deadly violence over the burning of Qurans at an American base that has strained U.S.-Afghan military relations.

At least nine people were killed and 12 wounded in the early morning explosion near the front gate of the airport in Jalalabad, Gen. Abdullah Hazim Stanikzai, the provincial police chief, said. There were no NATO casualties.

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The Taliban also claimed Monday to be behind the poisoning of food at a dining facility at Forward Operating Base Torkham, near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. It too was a retaliatory attack, the group said.
ISAF confirmed that food at the base appeared to have been contaminated over the weekend, though it was unclear if it was deliberate.

"Nobody got sick. An Afghan dining facility worker came to his leaders at the FOB and said that something had been poisoned," Maj. David Eastburn, an ISAF spokesman, said.

"The dining facility was shut down and we brought in environmental health, who found traces of chlorine bleach in the coffee and fruit. Soldiers are now eating pre-prepared rations and no one was affected. There is a full investigation that is narrowing down who was responsible."

The Taliban has frequently exaggerated its claims or claimed responsibility for attacks that later turned out to be the work of another group.


Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/27/world/asia/afghanistan-burned-qurans/index.html