The Taliban claimed credit for a suicide attack outside of a US base in eastern Afghanistan that is known to house CIA operatives who are hunting al Qaeda and other terrorist leaders across the border in Pakistan.

The Taliban suicide bomber detonated a van packed with explosives outside the main gate of Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province as Afghan workers were entering the base. Two Afghan civilians and an Afghan soldier were killed and several more were wounded in the blast, the provincial police chief told Pajhwok Afghan News. The slain Afghan policeman stopped the vehicle before it could enter the base, and then the suicide bomber detonated the explosives, TOLONews reported.

The International Security Assistance Force confirmed that an attack took place outside of FOB Chapman, but did not indicate that any ISAF personnel were killed in the attack.

The Taliban claimed credit for the attack in a statement released on their website, Voice of Jihad. In the statement, the Taliban claimed that the suicide bomber, who was identified as "Mujahid Omar," killed "as many as 100 foreign invaders and local puppets of the occupation forces" in the attack. The Taliban routinely exaggerate the casualties caused by suicide and other attacks against ISAF and Afghan forces.

Forward Operating Base Chapman is located in the heart of Haqqani Network territory. The Haqqani Network is a Taliban subgroup that administers Khost, Paktia, and Paktika provinces, and is closely allied to al Qaeda. The Taliban routinely publish Haqqani network propaganda on Voice of Jihad.

The base hosts members of the Central Intelligence Agency who are hunting al Qaeda and other allied terror groups operating in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Agencies. The base is used to gather intelligence and direct drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas.

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and al Qaeda targeted the CIA at the base on Dec. 30, 2009, when Abu Dujanah al Khurasani, a longtime Internet jihadi whose real name is Humam Khalil Muhammed Abu Mulal al Balawi, detonated a suicide vest on the base. The blast killed seven CIA officials and contractors, and a Jordanian intelligence officer. Khurasani had been recruited by Jordanian intelligence to provide targeting information for the US's covert air campaign against al Qaeda's leaders and operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Khurasani enticed the CIA with promises of being able to produce Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, and then detonated a suicide vest once he was granted access to the base.

As the US prepares to withdraw the bulk of its forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban have launched three major suicide assaults and several other smaller suicide attacks against large US bases in Afghanistan.

READ FULL SOURCE ARTICLE: 12/26/2012