Car bomb kills 26 civilians near base

A suicide car bombing near a military base in eastern Afghanistan that once hosted CIA employees killed at least 26 people on Sunday, local officials said, the latest insurgent attack after foreign forces ended their combat mission there.

The bombing hit a checkpoint manned by members of the Khost Provincial Force, an Afghan unit that guards Camp Chapman, said Youqib Khan, the deputy police chief in Khost province. It wasn't immediately clear whether the bomber was trying to get onto the base or what led to his attack, Khan said. A US defense official said Chapman is an Afghan base with some US special operations forces there.

A local hospital received the bodies of at least 26 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children including eight members of a single family, said Dr. Hedayatullah Hamedi, the province's health director. He said the blast wounded nine civilians.