<p><br /> A group of suicide bombers have tried to attack a major Nato base in eastern Afghanistan but were repelled before they could enter.<br /> </p><p><br /> The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack - their second assault on the Nato base and an adjoining airport outside Jalalabad city in six months.<br /> </p><p><br /> A spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial government said eight attackers were killed, including two who were wearing explosive-laden suicide vests.<br /> </p><p><br /> Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said there were 14 attackers and that 11 of them were killed.<br /> </p><p><br /> The militants attacked the Afghan army checkpoint outside the base shortly after dawn on Saturday, sparking a gunbattle that lasted at least two hours with NATO helicopters firing from overhead, said a national army commander at the site.<br /> </p><p><br /> NATO forces said no foreign or Afghan forces were killed.<br /> </p><p><br /> In June, militants assaulted the Nato base with a car bomb, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons but did not breach its defences.<br /> </p><p><br /> The base is about 75 miles east of Kabul on the main road between the Afghan capital and the Pakistan border.<br /> </p>
