A U.S. military official said six American soldiers were killed Monday in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan.

The official said that two other U.S. soldiers were injured. The official asked not to be named.

The attack occurred near the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. It is the biggest U.S. military facility in Afghanistan.

In this Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 file photo, U.S. Army soldiers stand with Afghan policemen before a joint patrol of Qalanderkhail, outside of Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. On Monday December 21, a suicide bomber killed six U.S. troops in an attack on a joint Afghan-NATO foot patrol on Monday. An attacker on a motorcycle rammed a group of troops as they patrolled a village near Bagram Airfield. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

The Taliban took credit for the deadly attack.

A Taliban statement sent to journalists said a suicide bomber riding a motorbike carried out the attack.

Monday's attack comes almost two weeks after a group of heavily armed Taliban suicide bombers hit a southern Kandahar air base. That base also houses U.S. soldiers. That attack lasted more than 29 hours and more than 54 people were killed. They included 39 civilians, 13 Afghan national army soldiers and two Afghan national police officers, according to the Associated Press.

In August near Kabul, three attacks within 24 hours left at least 35 people dead. One of the attacks, on a U.S. special operations forces base, killed one U.S soldier and eight Afghan civilian contractors. Another killed three American contractors.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Ayaz Gul reported on this story for VOANews.com. Bruce Alpert adapted this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

Words in This Story

occur – v. to take place

journalist – n. activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio

motorbike – n. a motorized bike

special operations forces -- n. troops given special training to handle difficult missions

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