US Service Member Among 9 Killed in Attack on Base in Kabul

— -- An American service member and eight Afghan civilian contractors were killed in a Taliban attack on Camp Integrity, a coalition base near Kabul’s airport, culminating a series of high-profile insurgent attacks in the Afghan capital that killed at least 50 people and injured hundreds more Friday.

A suicide bomber at the base's entrance started the attack late Friday. It ended with a gun battle that raged for hours before the four attackers were killed.

Several other coalition service members and civilians were also wounded in the attack. Officials haven't identified the U.S. service member killed in the attack.

The coalition base, close to Kabul’s airport, supports Afghanistan’s counter-narcotics efforts and houses U.S. special operations forces, coalition and Afghan personnel.

The attack followed two earlier bomb blasts that killed dozens of Afghans and injured hundreds more.

An early morning truck bomb exploded in a residential neighborhood, killing 15 and injuring 240. Another suicide bomber at the National Police Academy killed 27 police recruits and injured 26 others.

The suicide bomber was dressed in an Afghan police uniform and detonated his bomb at the entrance to the school where students had gathered to enter.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack on the police academy and Camp Integrity. There was no claim of responsibility for the truck blast.

"We strongly condemn the series of insurgent attacks in Kabul," said Mark Toner, the State Department's deputy spokesperson.

Toner said the attacks demonstrated the Taliban's "complete disregard for the lives of innocent Afghans. Such actions have no justification."

"We again call upon the Taliban, other Afghan militant groups, and anyone supporting them to bring an end to violence in Afghanistan," he added.

The U.S. still has about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a two-year training mission known as Resolute Support that began with the end of the U.S. combat mission in December. The majority stay on a small number of bases providing training support to the Afghan military, although a small number of special operations forces still conduct counterterrorism missions.

The service member killed in Friday’s attack is the third American military death in Afghanistan this year.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.