Official: Nine bombers hit US base in Afghanistan

[NewsCaster]

By NBC News staff and wire servicesUpdated at 4:35 a.m. ET: Nine suicide bombers struck an American airfield in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad early on Sunday, killing five people and wounding 18, a local official told NBC News.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld Two civilians and three members of Afghanistan's special forces were killed in the attack, Hazart Hussain Sharqiwal, spokesman for the Jalalabad police chief, told NBC News. Fourteen Afghan soldiers and four civilians were wounded, he said.

One attacker detonated his car bomb to help other attackers get inside the base, Sharqiwal said. Afghan security officials killed the suicide attackers who had not detonated their devices, he added.

NBCNews