At least four militants were killed Friday when a group of insurgents launched an attack on a NATO operating base in eastern Afghan province of Khost.

"According to initial operational reports, there was an insurgent attack against a coalition base in eastern Khost province today but Afghan and coalition security force repelled the attack, killing four insurgents," the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a brief message sent to media here.

"A terrorist exploded an explosive-laden vehicle near the gate of a NATO-led coalition base named Camp Salerno in outskirts of provincial capital Khost city at around 1 p.m. local time Friday," a provincial security source told Xinhua anonymously earlier Friday.

He said following the blast another three insurgents launched an attacked by small armed fire against the military compound.

However, the NATO-led ISAF said that no member of coalition or Afghan security force was injured in the attack.

Taliban insurgent's fighting Afghan and ISAF forces claimed of responsibility for the incident.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman who often exaggerate claims, told local media via phone that Taliban carried out a coordinated suicide attack against a U.S. military base in Khost city, killing over a dozen NATO and U.S. forces.

The insurgent group, who have been waging more than a decade- long insurgency, announced that they would launch a spring offensive starting from May 3 to target Afghan forces as well as U.S. and NATO troops across the country.

Currently over 130,000 NATO-led ISAF troops with majority of them Americans have been serving in Afghanistan.

According to U.S. President Barack Obama's withdrawal plan, 10, 000 U.S. troops already pulled out from Afghanistan last year and another 23,000 will return home by September this year. The ultimate goal is to transfer lead security responsibility to the Afghan forces by 2014.

Related

• Suicide car bomb targets NATO troops in Afghan capital

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)