Seven American CIA agents and five Canadian soldiers were killed in separate incidences in Afghanistan near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack on the Americans, carried out at a US base in the eastern province of Khost, saying that the attacker was an officer in the Afghan army.

"This deadly attack was carried out by a valorous Afghan army member when the officials [Americans] were busy gaining information about the mujahideen," Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said in an email.

The Afghan defence ministry denied that the bomber was an Afghan army officer.

The suicide bomber reportedly evaded security at the base and detonated an explosive belt in a room used as a fitness centre.

Source: english.aljazeera.net

Among those killed was the chief of the CIA's operation at Forward Operating Base Chapman, the Associated Press news agency has learned.

CIA Director Leon Panetta said the deaths would not deter the agency.

"There are plenty of people here who are capable and willing to make sure that these people will be avenged," a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

"This incident is being looked at very, very carefully, and what there is to be learned will be learned," the official added.

The CIA said it would not release the names of those killed or provide details about the work they were doing for the agency, citing "the sensitivity of their mission and other ongoing operations."

Source: www.reuters.com

Afghanistan seems to be becoming worse than Iraq!