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Blast Kills Civilians Near US Military Base in Afghanistan Previously Used by CIA

At least 25 civilians, many of them women and children, were reportedly killed by a suicide bombing near Camp Chapman in eastern Afghanistan.
Imagen por Jalil Rezayee/EPA

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At least 25 civilians, many of them women and children, were killed on Sunday by a suicide bombing close to a US military base in eastern Afghanistan.

Dr. Hedayatullah Hamedi, the provincial health director of Afghanistan's Khost province, told the Associated Press the bombing happened at a checkpoint in the city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan. The doctor also said six civilians were wounded, including two who are in critical condition.

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Faizullah Ghairat, the Khost city police chief, told AFP the bomber detonated the explosives at a military roadblock near the entrance to Camp Chapman, where Afghan and foreign soldiers are stationed.

Ghairat told VICE News the suicide attacker was riding a three-wheeled motorcycle, and that the incident happened at the evening rush hour when people were getting back homes to breaking their Ramadan fasts. Ghairat put the toll at 25 dead and 16 wounded.

Camp Chapman was previously the target of a brazen suicide attack by al Qaeda in 2009 that killed seven CIA officials and wounded six others. The base was reportedly central to the covert CIA drone program that has targeted militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The attack, which was carried out by a bomber posing as a would-be CIA informant, was the deadliest single day for the spy agency since eight CIA officers were killed in the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut.

No group has claimed responsibility for the recent blast, but the Taliban, which has a strong presence in the area, is suspected.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report