Four Americans were killed Saturday in an attack at a U.S. airfield in Afghanistan carried out by a suicide bomber.
(FOX)- Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the explosion inside Bagram Airfield took the lives of two U.S. servicemembers and two U.S. contractors working on the base and wounded 16 other U.S. servicemembers and one Police solider.
“I want to express my sincere condolences to the families of the fallen, and I want to reassure the loved ones of those injured that they are getting the best possible care,” Carter said.
The State Department announced the U.S. Embassy in Kabul would close Sunday as a precaution.
An earlier statement from NATO’s Resolute Support mission said the blast happened around 5:30 a.m. (8 p.m. Friday EST) and that “force protection and medical teams are responding to the situation.”
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the insurgent group, said the attack had been planned for four months.
The Taliban regularly fire rockets at Bagram from outside its perimeter.
Abdul Wahid Sediqqi, spokesman for the governor of Parwan province, where the air field is based, said laborers employed at the base line up at the gates around dawn. He said it was possible the attacker could have been among the men entering the base Saturday.