Taliban militants armed with rockets, guns and grenades attacked the largest NATO base in Afghanistan, sparking gun battles that killed seven insurgents and wounded seven NATO soldiers.
The daring assault on Bagram airbase came a day after a suicide car bombing killed five US soldiers, a Canadian colonel and 12 Afghans, highlighting the increasing sophistication and relentless pace of the nearly nine-year insurgency.
"Seven insurgents have been killed during an ongoing attack on Bagram that included rockets, small arms and grenades," the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
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Located around 35 miles north of Kabul, Bagram is run primarily by the US military and is the biggest NATO airbase in the country. It is a transit hub for tens of thousands of troops serving in the 130,000-strong US-led NATO force.
The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying 20 suicide bombers had taken part in the assault, which began overnight.
The militia is known to exaggerate its claims and there was no other confirmation that suicide attackers were involved.
"Four suicide bombers activated their explosive belts and fighting is continuing at the base," Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Major Virginia McCabe, a press officer at Bagram, said the attack was still going on after 9:00 am (0430 GMT) but denied the insurgents had been able to penetrate the sprawling base.
"It is still going on, but it is sporadic now," she said.
"They targeted a gate but couldn't enter, they didn't enter.... Seven ISAF soldiers were wounded. Our soldiers' response was pretty quick.
"We know there are claims of suicide bombers but we are not aware of it at this time," said McCabe.
Bagram has acquired notoriety across Afghanistan and the Muslim world as the location of a US-run prison that the military opened following the US-led invasion that brought down the Taliban regime in late 2001.
The entrance to the base was last hit by a double attack in March 2009 that wounded three civilians.
On a busy day, the air terminal at Bagram, with connecting flights across Afghanistan and abroad, processes around 1,650 passengers.
In addition to troops, there are around 5,000 civilians on the 2,100-hectare (5,190-acre) compound, working for companies contracted by the military.
At least 210 NATO soldiers, 130 of them from the United States, have died in the war so far this year. It has been the deadliest January to May period since the US-led invasion in 2001 brought down the Taliban regime.
On Tuesday, eight NATO soldiers were killed -- six of them in a suicide car bomb attack in the capital Kabul, which the Taliban claimed responsibility for.
NATO said another two soldiers were killed in the south of the country, the Taliban heartland and the focus of a sweeping US-led strategy to beat back the insurgency and allow troops to start withdrawing from 2011.
Taliban have increased attacks over the past 12 months in Afghanistan's heavily-guarded capital, but strikes on NATO military bases are much rarer.
The Taliban had promised a new nationwide campaign of attacks from May 10 targeting diplomats, members of the Afghan parliament, foreign contractors and the 130,000-strong international military force.
The United States and NATO allies are deploying thousands of extra troops in the war, with the overall number due to peak at 150,000 by August as part of the new strategy.
Washington believes this "surge" can wrest back the initiative in key population centres and allow US forces to start withdrawing from the unpopular and costly conflict next year.
