U.S. troops attacked at Kandahar base

By Taras Protsyuk

Thursday February 14, 5:45 PM

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S. troops at Kandahar airport were attacked on Wednesday shortly before the arrival of helicopters carrying detainees from the conflict in Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said.

Seven people were detained after patrols were sent out to investigate, while several others who may have been involved in the attack in southern Afghanistan escaped, the officials said.

I heard heavy gunfire and explosions in the half hour exchange, which included intense firing over a five minute period.

All lights at the base were turned off except those illuminating a high-security jail holding Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners, while two helicopters could be seen circling hills just outside the base.

The heaviest firing was on the airport's western perimeter around one kilometre (half a mile) from the terminal building. It was unclear if the explosions were inside or outside the base fence.

Operations in Afghanistan by the U.S. military and its allies to mop up remnants of the vanquished Taliban and the al Qaeda network of fugitive militant Osama bin Laden, blamed for September 11's attacks on the United States, are based at Kandahar airport.

There are around 4,100 military personnel at the airport, with the majority from the United States, while Canada has more than 400 troops at the base.

Shortly after the firing, three U.S. Chinook transport helicopters landed in the prison compound.

"This was a special operation by special forces and they were bringing in some more detainees," Major M.C. Roper, U.S. military spokesman at the base, told reporters.

He declined to elaborate on who the new arrivals were.

"We got a report from the soldiers guarding the perimeter of shooting from the west side hill," Roper said. "The soldiers responded with machine guns, no heavy weapons were used in this."

He gave no further information but defence officials in Washington said there were no casualties among U.S. forces.

LIGHTS TURNED OFF

Roper said two Apache helicopters equipped with night vision equipment had been sent to search the area after shooting died down.

Last month, U.S. forces seized a cache of weapons under a building and in tunnels near the base a few days after up to 14 gunmen briefly fired towards U.S. positions with small arms.

No U.S. troops were hurt in the probing fire by the gunmen, who were armed with AK-47 assault rifles and used flares to illuminate U.S. marine positions.

Kandahar was the last bastion of the Taliban, a movement that imposed a hardline brand of Islam on Afghanistan until it was toppled by U.S. bombing and attacks by the opposition Northern Alliance late last year.