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1 dead, 60 wounded in blast near largest US airbase in Afghanistan

Bagram, Dec 11 (EFE/EPA).- A car bombing near the largest United States military base in Afghanistan’s Bagram on Wednesday killed a woman, wounded over 60 other civilians and badly damaged an under-construction hospital close to the airfield, officials said.“The blast was very strong. It has destroyed and damaged several houses in nearby villages. Over 60 civilians, including women and children, have been injured. A woman has died,” Bagram district governor Shukoor Qudusi told EFE.The governor said there were two more smaller blasts after the first major explosion near the Bagram airfield, some 50 km north of Kabul, in Parwan province.He said security forces seized one of the vehicles of the attackers in which military equipment and no explosives were found.Saleem Noori, a spokesperson for Parwan Police, said the area was “cordoned off by foreign forces and is not clear yet”.“We are still working to collect the details about the damage and casualties from the vehicle bombing,” Noori told EFE.A NATO Resolute Support mission spokesperson told EFE that there were no US or coalition casualties and the military base “remained secure throughout the attack” that occurred near the airbase.“Enemy forces conducted an attack on Bagram airfield this morning, targeting a medical facility being constructed to help the Afghan people who live near the base,” the spokesperson said, adding the attack was quickly contained and repelled by the Afghan and their coalition partner forces.“But the future medical facility was badly damaged,” he said.Provincial governor's spokesperson Wahida Shahkar told EFE that the explosion occurred “close and very near" to the US airbase around 6 in the morning.The attack, which has not been attributed to any group so far, comes shortly after the Taliban and the US resumed peace talks in Doha, Qatar.The talks were abruptly suspended three months ago by US President Donald Trump, after an attack in Kabul in which an American soldier lost his life.Since the end of the NATO combat mission in Jan. 2015, the US maintains one contingent within the framework of the new allied mission of advising Afghan troops and another for "anti-terrorist" tasks. (Camera: HEDAYATULLAH AMID)FOOTAGE SHOWS THE AREA NEAR THE LARGEST UNITED STATES MILITARY BASE IN WHICH THE EXPLOSION TOOK PLACE IN BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN.