LEAD: Two killed in attack on NATO logistics centre

Nov 3, 2011, 12:17 GMT

Kabul - Two Afghan civilians were killed Thursday when suicide car bombers struck a logistics centre operating on behalf of the NATO-led forces in western Afghanistan, officials said.

Two suicide bombers drove their explosive-packed vehicle into the logistics centre's gate and blew themselves up, according to Nor Khan Nikzad, a spokesman for the police in the western province of Herat.

'The bombing was followed by at least three other attackers in Afghan army uniform,' he said, adding that a gunfight ensued between Afghan forces and three insurgents.

Two Afghan employees of the logistics company were killed and three others were injured in the gun battle, including a foreign national whose identity is unclear, said Mohidin Nori, spokesman for the provincial governor.

The gunfight ended after a few hours, with all three insurgents being killed, the spokesman said. NATO-led international troops supported Afghan forces in the fight.

The centre in Herat's Gozara district, just outside the provincial capital, supplies the Afghan army and NATO-led Italian forces.

A spokesman for the western regional command of the NATO-led forces said the international forces sustained no deaths.

Earlier this week, in a similar attack involving a suicide bomber and armed insurgents, three Afghan staff at a United Nations office and a senior police official were killed in the southern province of Kandahar.

In recent weeks, Afghan Taliban fighters have started resorting to high-profile coordinated attacks. In September, Taliban fighters launched a 20-hour assault in Kabul targeting the US Embassy and NATO headquarter buildings.