Eight Afghan guards killed, two injured in attack on American base at Bagram

Eight Afghan guards have beenkilled and two others wounded aftergunmen attacked the American base at Bagramin Afghanistan.

Bagram is around 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Kabul. The Bagram basecontains the largest US contingent in the country.

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"They were all local residents serving as guards at Bagram," said district governor Abdul Shakoor Quddusi, adding that they were riding back home in a convoy when attacked.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban are setting up nationwide attacks to regaintheir Afghanistan stronghold, while ISIS is trying to make new inroads into the country.

The US is expectedto increase military deployment in the country to help Afghan forces contain the Taliban's rising offensive. At present, there are 8,400 US troops and another 5,000 from NATO allies in Afghanistan, muchlesscompared to the 100,000 troops six years ago.

Seven American soldiers were wounded in an insider attack by an Afghan soldier at Camp Shaheen near the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Saturday.

Analysts say such attacks are expected to increase this year as US troops engage with the Afghan military to double the size of its special forces, considered to be effective in the fight against insurgents.

The Afghan conflict is the longest in American history, with US-led forces at war there since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.