LAS VEGAS – Marie Osmond told a Las Vegas Strip audience as she returned to the stage less than two weeks after her son's apparent suicide that she has relied on her spirituality to cope with his death

"Little did I know I would be relying on my faith, especially as much as I did this past week," Osmond said before dedicating a song to her 18-year-old son, Michael Bryan, whom she called "my angel."

Wrapped in a robe with white feathers that resembled an angel's wings, Osmond genuflected and reached out her right hand as she sang the song amid a starry backdrop.

"How she got through that I will never know," her brother Donny Osmond said after his sister's solo performance.

"I hope you all appreciate what she's going through tonight," he said. "She's a strong woman."

The Osmonds' teary return to the Flamingo Las Vegas on Tuesday night came one day after funeral services for Bryan in Provo, Utah.

Donny Osmond described his sister as strong for simply showing up.

"I just think that we need to give a big round of applause to my sister for even coming onstage tonight," Donny Osmond said after the siblings' opening number.

"Don't do that — I'm going to have to leave," Marie Osmond quipped as the crowd roared in support.

"God bless you all," she said. "The way Osmonds survive is we keep singing and that's what we want to do tonight. I know my son would want that."

The Donny & Marie show resumed before an eager audience that was overwhelmingly supportive of Marie's songs and jokes, as well as a dance-off against her brother, last season's winner of "Dancing With the Stars."

Their sibling banter wasn't spared as they ribbed one another — and themselves — throughout the show about their ages, voices and fitness.

"Thank you, papers, for putting in that I'm 50," Marie Osmond said. "The female F-word — '50.'"

Marie Osmond said her 7-year-old daughter told her that she needed to laugh Tuesday night, so she told her a joke.

"Why was the sand wet," the mother recalled. "Because the sea weed."

Police in Los Angeles have said Bryan died Feb. 26 of an apparent suicide after jumping from the eighth floor of an apartment building. Autopsy and toxicology results are pending.

Police said Bryan left a note but they have not provided details about its contents.

Bryan previously used his adoptive father's last name, Blosil, but Utah court records show his name was legally changed.

At the end of the Osmonds' sentimental return, Marie Osmond cried as she struggled to sing her last line.

"May God keep you in his tender care," Donny Osmond sang, before telling his sister: "You don't have to sing this part."

"'Til he brings us together again," she sang.

PUL-E-CHARKHI, Afghanistan – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility Wednesday that some of the U.S. forces involved in the Afghanistan surge could leave the country before President Barack Obama's announced July 2011 date to begin withdrawal.

Without giving specifics, Gates said, "It would have to be conditions-based."

Gates made the remarks during a visit to a dust-blown training ground in Kabul province where Afghan soldiers come for weeks of training under U.S. and British instruction. British Brigadier Simon Levy told Gates that if NATO countries contribute more trainers, the project to expand the Afghan army will keep pace.

In a press conference with Gates, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said his country is ashamed to have foreigners assuming its defense, and eager to take over the job. He referred repeatedly to the goal of some handover of responsibility by the fall of next year. The goal is to expand the Afghan National Army to 171,000 by then, and the police force to 134,000.

"I hope by that time we will be able to have the responsibility for the physical security of the country in different regions," Wardak said. "That process will continue as we go further and the numbers increase and our capabilities increase."

Gates said, "We will begin that transition no later than July of 2011, but the pace will depend also on conditions on the ground."

Still, the Pentagon chief said, "We should not be too impatient."

Gates watched as Afghan troops dealt with a simulated roadside bomb explosion. He stood on an embankment above the road as Afghan soldiers leapt out of a convoy, tended to casualties and contained the explosive.

He said he was very impressed by what he saw.

"Although attention may be focused on operations in the south today, the training that is going on at this facility for the long term is even more important," he said. "At the end of the day, only Afghans will be able to provide long-term security for Afghanistan."

U.S. forces are engaged in a major offensive against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan. Gates visited some of those troops Tuesday.

Reporters also asked Gates about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday.

"It's certainly fodder for all the conspiratorialists," he said. "We think Afghanistan should have good relations with all of its neighbors, but we also want all of Afghanistan's neighbors to play an upfront game in dealing with the government of Afghanistan."

Gates has accused Tehran of "playing a double game" in Afghanistan by trying to woo the Afghan government while undermining U.S. and NATO efforts by helping the Taliban.

In a press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad responded that it was the United States that was playing a "double game."

"They themselves created terrorists and now they're saying that they are fighting terrorists," Ahmadinejad said.

"Your country is located on the other side of the world, so what are you doing here?" he asked.

KABUL (AFP) – Iran's outspoken president on Wednesday criticised Western troops as an obstacle to peace in Afghanistan and mocked the US defence secretary during their overlapping visits to the war-torn country.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, paying his first visit to Afghanistan since he and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai were re-elected last year in controversial polls, took issue with the policies of arch-foe Washington.

"We do not see the presence of foreign military forces in Afghanistan as a solution for peace in Afghanistan," Ahmadinejad told a joint news conference with Karzai.

The United States has spearheaded a major troop surge in a last-ditch bid to end an eight-year Taliban-led insurgency against more than 120,000 NATO and US-led troops supporting Karzai's government.

"Our policy is full support for the Afghan people and Afghan government and reconstruction of Afghanistan and we will continue this support in the future," said the visiting Iranian leader.

His visit overlapped with one by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, in Afghanistan to review the surge of US and NATO troops set to bring their numbers to 150,000 by August.

Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called on US-led troops to leave Afghanistan, which has close ethnic and religious ties to Iran, while US officials have long accused Iran of maintaining links to Islamist insurgents in Afghanistan.

Asked about Gates's accusation Iran of playing a double game in the war-torn country, Ahmadinejad responded: "The question is what are you (Gates and troops) doing here in this region?"

"You are 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles) away on the other side of the world. You are on the other side of the world. What are you doing here? This is a serious question," he added.

On the third day of his latest visit to Afghanistan, Gates on Wednesday toured a training centre for Afghan soldiers on the outskirts of the capital.

"We think Afghanistan should have good relations with all of its neighbours. But we also want all of Afghanistan's neighbors to play an up front game when dealing with the government of Afghanistan," Gates told reporters.

Despite their rivalry, Washington and Tehran are both sworn enemies of the extremist Sunni Muslim Taliban militia which ruled in Kabul from 1996, before being overthrown in the 2001 US-led invasion.

Karzai is expected to arrive in Pakistan later Wednesday for two days' of talks with Pakistani leaders to bolster relations between the two neighbours battling Taliban militants.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was to deliver a speech in the United States on Wednesday pressing the Afghan government to step up efforts for a political solution with the Taliban to bring the conflict to an end.

Another car bomb attack killed five Afghan security personnel at a security post in Paktika, the eastern province which has become a flashpoint for a Taliban insurgency and which borders militant strongholds in Pakistan.

Militants fired eight rockets at the post after the bombing, and it was not immediately clear if the number of casualties would increase, provincial police chief Dawlat Khan Zadran told AFP.

Late Tuesday a suicide bomber targeted a NATO-Afghan border police compound in neighbouring Khost province, killing two foreign soldiers in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

Touring Camp Blackhorse, Gates said that only Afghans could provide "long-term security" and briefly addressed the troops, who stumbled at times during their demonstrations for the visiting dignitary.

"This is your country and ultimately your fight to win," Gates told the newly trained troops standing to attention. "We will be your steadfast brothers in arms and friends."

The United States and NATO allies view building up Afghan security forces as crucial to clearing the way for an eventual exit of coalition forces, with US President Barack Obama vowing to start a drawdown in mid-2011.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis said Tuesday that the United States wanted countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to contribute 1,278 trainers but so far they have offered only 541.

WASHINGTON – Legislation blending help for the jobless with popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals is slated to pass the Senate Wednesday over protests from conservatives who say it adds too much to the $12.5 trillion national debt.

But compassion for the jobless and the political power of an annual package of tax breaks is likely to produce a bipartisan vote to pass the measure, even though it would add more than $130 billion to the budget deficit over the next year and a half.

The bill would provide unemployment benefits of up to 99 months in many states for people mired in joblessness as the economy slowly recovers from the worst recession in decades. The measure easily cleared a procedural hurdle Tuesday by a 66-34 vote, with eight Republicans voting with Democrats to break a GOP filibuster.

The measure illustrates the great extent to which direct help for the jobless and the poor makes up a large portion of Democrats' election-year agenda on jobs — and threatens to squeeze out other items amid concerns about a budget deficit projected at a record $1.6 trillion this year.

The sweeping bill cleans up a host of unfinished congressional business from last year that languished as the Senate focused on health care. It would also prevent doctors from absorbing a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments and extends through December a generous 65 percent subsidy of health insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program, at a cost of $10 billion.

Democrats also hope to finish work this week on a far smaller job-creation measure blending additional highway spending with new tax breaks for companies that hire the unemployed. The Senate could clear the measure for President Barack Obama's signature by Friday.

Wednesday's larger bill also provides the annual extension of $26 billion worth of tax breaks for businesses and individuals that are popular with senators in both parties.

The $66 billion cost of providing additional months of unemployment checks — the core benefit is 26 weeks — is added directly to a budget deficit expected to hit $1.6 trillion this year. Federal cash to help states with Medicaid adds about $25 billion more.

"Even though these programs may be good for your state, a senator has an obligation to stand up and say 'no more,'" said freshman GOP Sen. George Lemieux of Florida. "No more spending our kids' future. No more bankrupting the promise of this country."

But Democrats said it would be heartless to cut off unemployment benefits to the long-term jobless and contended that the benefits inject demand into the economy, helping to lift it.

"This is not just some technical bill," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. "This bill helps real people. Failure to enact this bill would cause real hardship. Failure to enact this bill would cost jobs."

The tax breaks include a property tax deduction for people who don't itemize, lucrative credits that help businesses finance research and development and a sales tax deduction that mainly helps people in the nine states without income taxes.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Israel apologized Wednesday for disrupting the visit of Vice President Joe Biden with its announcement of 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem, but made clear it had no intention of reversing the order that has cast a shadow over the latest U.S. push for Mideast peace.

As Biden held talks with top Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose office announced the new construction on lands Palestinians claim for a future state, said the problem was about timing, not substance.

"We had no intention, no desire, to offend or taunt an important man like the vice president during his visit," Yishai told Israel Radio. "I am very sorry for the embarrassment. We need to remember that approvals are done according to law even if the timing was wrong. ... Next time we need to take timing into account."

Biden's talks with the Palestinians on Wednesday were aimed in part to ease their doubts about the latest U.S. peace efforts. Israel's planned construction in east Jerusalem was an embarrassing setback for Biden after a day of warm meetings with senior Israeli officials — and drew an unusually harsh condemnation from the vice president.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the Israeli announcement was "damaging" and posed a "great challenge" to restarting peace talks. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the new construction would be the main item on the Abbas-Biden agenda.

"I think the Israeli government is making it almost impossible for us, the Americans and the international community, to take a one centimeter step in the direction of reviving the peace process," Erekat said.

Palestinian security forces lined the streets of Ramallah as Biden's convoy of black SUVs made its way from Fayyad's office to Abbas' headquarters, a 10-minute drive. Riot policemen, with their backs to the road, faced small groups of Palestinians watching from side roads and shops.

In an apparent snub Tuesday night, Biden pointedly arrived 90 minutes late to his scheduled dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and he sharply rebuked the Israeli step — which came just after the Palestinians agreed to a new round of indirect peace talks under U.S. mediation after a 14-month lapse.

"The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now," Biden said.

"We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them," he added, warning that "unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations."

Fayyad said the Palestinians appreciated "the strong statement of condemnation" by the U.S. administration.

Israel's opposition Kadima party said it is planning a no-confidence vote in the prime minister in parliament for "destroying" the Biden visit.

The new construction plan also drew a sharp rebuke from Egypt, Israel's closest ally in the Arab world, and from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

"This is absurd. It is disdainful of the Arab and the Palestinian positions and the American mediation," said Hossam Zaki, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Israeli media lambasted the move, calling it an embarrassment.

"A slap heard round the world," read the headline of a front-page commentary in Israel's Haaretz daily.

Israel's refusal to halt building on war-won land has infuriated the Palestinians and undermined their faith in the U.S. as an effective mediator.

President Barack Obama initially called for a complete settlement freeze, but did not take Israel to task when it only agreed to a 10-month moratorium on housing starts in the West Bank. Netanyahu refuses to stop building in east Jerusalem, saying he will never partition the city.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War, as their future capital.

Earlier this week, the Palestinians reluctantly agreed to indirect negotiations with Israel, with U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell to shuttle between Abbas and Netanyahu in coming months.

Abbas has said he won't resume direct negotiations without a settlement freeze, leaving the U.S. no choice but to arrange the indirect talks in hopes of ending the impasse.

Growing settlements take up more and more of the land the Palestinians want for their state and make partition increasingly difficult. Today, nearly 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and 180,000 in east Jerusalem.

The ongoing construction is also eroding domestic support for Abbas and his policy of trying to negotiate the terms of Palestinian statehood with Israel.

Many Palestinians are critical of U.S.-led peace efforts, saying two decades of on-and-off negotiations have deepened Israeli control over the lands they want for their state, instead of bringing them closer to independence.

The latest Israeli building plan is undermining Abbas, said Erekat. "It's a really disastrous situation. I hope that this will be an eye-opener for all in the international community."

At Tuesday's dinner, Netanyahu told Biden he was caught off guard by the ministry's announcement, a senior Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the dinner was closed.

While Netanyahu considers east Jerusalem to be part of Israel, he acknowledged the timing of the announcement was poor and said he had no intention of sabotaging Biden's visit. He stressed that there are no plans to begin construction anytime soon.

LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday he believed Britain would maintain its coveted top credit rating and announced a pay freeze for senior civil servants and military officers to help tame a record deficit.

Setting out his economic plans weeks before an election, Brown said recovery remained fragile and that to change course now would risk plunging Britain back into recession. He drew on his experience last year when he chaired the group of 20 leading and developing nations during the global financial crisis.

His message contrasted with that of opposition Conservative leader David Cameron who is campaigning on a "time for change" slogan and wants to make a quicker start on cutting a deficit forecast to exceed 12 percent of GDP this year.

"We face crucial decisions. Cut now at home -- fail to protect our frontline services, fail to invest in the growth sectors of the future -- and we could push our economy back into recession," Brown said in a speech at Thomson Reuters in London.

Brown, who was finance minister for a decade until 2007, said cuts should only come once recovery was assured; but jittery markets should take heart from a government commitment to halve the deficit over four years.

"This four-year deficit reduction plan, legally binding, legislated in parliament, is I think very clear and I think the markets should understand this," he said.

Brown said he believed that the longer maturity of British government debt put it in a better position than other countries with large deficits.

Speaking at Thomson Reuters last week, Conservative business spokesman Ken Clarke drew parallels between Britain and Greece, which is facing a debt crisis.

Asked about Britain's triple A credit rating, Brown said: "I believe we will maintain that credit rating."

PAY FREEZE

Brown's finance minister Alistair Darling will deliver a final budget on March 24 before an election expected on May 6. Brown said that would include measures designed to foster future growth after the worst recession in more than 50 years.

Figures released Wednesday showed British manufacturing output fell in January, putting fresh pressure on sterling and underlining Brown's warning that data would be volatile in the coming months.

The Conservatives had a lead of more than 10 points in opinion polls for many months, but the gap has closed and there is now the prospect of an inconclusive election in which neither of the two main parties wins an outright majority -- an unusual occurrence under the British electoral system.

To show he was serious on tackling the deficit, Brown announced a wage freeze for highest paid public sector staff.

"We will ... freeze the pay for senior staff in the civil service, senior staff in the military, the judiciary, senior managers in the health service and the pay of consultants, GPs (family doctors) and dentists," he said.

"These measures along with the new controls on senior pay which I announced in December will save money immediately and by 2013/14 save more than three billion pounds."

The freeze on pay for the military top brass comes when Britain has around 10,000 troops fighting in Afghanistan.

Brown's character has become a focus in campaigning ahead of the election, with the prime minister forced to deny accusations that he intimidated staff.

Brown sought to turn the debate to his advantage, stressing

he had the determination to push his policies through.

"I will not let you down," he said.

(Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon; edited by Ralph Boulton)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Preliminary results of Iraq's parliamentary election, a vote seen as a litmus test of its young democracy, are likely to be released by Thursday, a United Nations official said Wednesday.

Iraqi electoral officials, who had previously suggested the first count might be made public Wednesday, did not immediately confirm the timeline given by the United Nations.

A decisive victory by any political coalition is unlikely in an election Iraqis hope will bring a measure of stability after years of sectarian warfare as U.S. troops prepare to pull out. Negotiations to form a new government could take months.

Ad Melkert, the U.N. special representative to Iraq, told a news conference the vote count was proceeding at a good pace and first results were likely to be announced by Thursday.

Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission, whose top official was sitting beside Melkert, has said it will publish preliminary results when 30 percent of votes have been counted.

"On the basis of the information that I have received this morning I am confident that it will be possible by tomorrow to have preliminary results announced," Melkert said.

Informal tallies of Sunday's vote for the 325-seat Iraqi parliament showed that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law list fared well in Baghdad and Shi'ite southern provinces.

A member of his coalition said he expected State of Law to be the biggest bloc in the next parliament but that it would need to form an alliance with one or two other lists.

A secular, cross-sectarian line-up led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi appeared to be polling well in Sunni areas of the north and west, according to the informal tallies.

"This is an honest process and that's why it is very important that the announcement of the preliminary results will be accepted by all," Melkert said.

"I think it's fair to say the world has been impressed by the professional way that these elections have taken place."

Turnout was 62 percent, higher than in last year's provincial election, despite a spate of insurgent attacks that killed 39 people, all but one of them in Baghdad, on voting day.

The U.S. military, which stayed in the background while Iraqi security forces protected the election, praised the conduct of the vote and said the violence had been limited.

General Ray Odierno, the U.S. commander in Iraq, said plans were on track to reduce troop levels from 96,000 now to 50,000 by the end of August, ahead of a full withdrawal by end-2011.

(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami and Jim Loney, editing by Alistair Lyon)

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinians told U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday that Israel's new plan to build 1,600 homes for Jewish settlers challenged Washington's efforts to get indirect peace talks underway.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli cabinet minister apologized for what he termed "real embarrassment" caused to Biden by the news on Tuesday that Israel would erect the housing units in an area of the West Bank it annexed to the holy city.

Biden condemned the project, whose announcement clouded a mission to Israel that had been focused on reassuring Israelis that President Barack Obama was committed to their security in the face of a possible Iranian nuclear threat.

"This is a moment of great challenge to the effort by the United States to get the political process going again," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said at a meeting with Biden.

Fayyad said Israel's action was "damaging for sure" and "definitely undermines confidence in the prospects for peace.

Aides to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had been blindsided by the project's announcement by the Interior Ministry, run by Shas, an ultraorthodox, nationalist party that is a key member of his governing coalition.

The Palestinians, who had called for a settlement freeze as a condition for resuming talks suspended since December 2008, agreed this week to indirect negotiations with Israel under U.S. mediation, but no date, venue or agenda has been set.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said President Mahmoud Abbas would ask Biden in a meeting later in the day to press Israel to revoke the settlement decision.

FREEZE

Netanyahu ordered in November a 10-month halt to new housing starts in West Bank settlements but exempted those Israel considers part of Jerusalem and projects for Jewish homes in the eastern sector of the city captured in 1967.

"Messages have been sent to Biden and the Americans that there was no intention to undermine him," a senior Israeli official said. "We were genuinely surprised, just as surprised as the Americans."

Netanyahu took no steps to reverse the decision. Israel considers all of Jerusalem its indivisible and eternal capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Shas's promotion of the plan was an indication to the Obama administration of the problems Netanyahu would face within his government should he make bold moves, as Washington has demanded, toward a land-for-peace deal with Palestinians.

Biden kept Netanyahu and wife Sara waiting for 90 minutes at a dinner they were hosting for him and his spouse Jill on Tuesday, after the project was made public.

"I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units," Biden said in a statement issued after he finally arrived for the meal.

He said the blueprint for Ramat Shlomo, a religious Jewish settlement, "undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I've had here in Israel."

(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah, Ali Sawafta and Tom Perry in Ramallah, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

ISLAMABAD – Suspected militants armed with grenades attacked the offices of a Christian aid group helping earthquake survivors in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six employees and wounding several others, police and the organization said.

All the victims of the assault on World Vision, a major international humanitarian group, were Pakistanis.

Extremists have killed other people working for foreign aid groups in Pakistan and issued statements saying such organizations were working against Islam, greatly hampering efforts to raise living standards in the desperately poor region. Many groups have scaled down operations in the northwest or pulled out altogether.

The attack took place in Ogi, a small town in Mansehra district, which was badly hit by the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.

"It was a brutal and senseless attack," said Dean Owen, World Vision spokesman in Seattle, Washington. "It was completely unexpected, unannounced and unprovoked."

Another spokesman said the group had suspended operations across Pakistan as a result of the attack.

Two women were among the six dead, said local police chief Sajid Khan. Four people were wounded.

He said about 10 gunmen took part in the raid.

"They went inside, opened fire indiscriminately and then threw grenades before fleeing," said Khan.

Al-Qaida, the Taliban and allied groups are strong in northwestern Pakistan, but Mansehra lies outside the tribal belt next to Afghanistan where the militants have their main bases and is relatively peacefully.

Islamist militants see foreign aid groups and local outfits that receive international funds as a challenge to their authority in regions under their influence. The organizations often employ women and support female rights initiatives, further angering the extremists.

Many foreign aid groups set up offices in Mansehra after the 2005 earthquake, which killed about 80,000 people.

In 2008, militants there killed four Pakistanis working for Plan International, a British-based charity that mainly helps children.

World Vision is one of the world's largest and well-funded Christian aid groups. It was founded 60 years ago in the United States.

KHOST, Afghanistan – The Taliban claimed responsibility Wednesday for a suicide bombing inside a U.S.-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan that killed two NATO service members.

A Taliban operative wearing an Afghan police uniform infiltrated the base Tuesday night and detonated his explosive vest next to a group of soldiers who were warming their hands beside a fire, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press by phone.

U.S. troops command most of the eastern area bordering Pakistan, and local officials said they only knew of U.S. soldiers and Afghan border police on Chergotah base. A NATO statement on the attack confirmed that two of its service members died but did not give their nationalities. A number of others were wounded in the attack, the military alliance said.

The attack was a reminder of the increasing sophistication and reach of insurgents — who have expanded attacks against targets like the capital and heavily guarded military outposts even as NATO forces have started to take back some of their strongholds in the south.

In December, a suicide bomber infiltrated a CIA base in Khost city, killing seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer. The bomber was able to enter the base because the CIA was cultivating him as a potential source of information about al-Qaida leaders.

Tuesday's suicide attack was along the porous Pakistan border, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Khost city, the provincial capital. Khost's rugged mountains are dominated by the Haqqani network, an al-Qaida-linked Afghan Taliban faction blamed for the CIA attack.

A resident who lives near Chergotah base, Sayed Gul, told The Associated Press he heard a large explosion just after sunset and saw two helicopters land in the area of the base and then fly back toward Khost city.

NATO said an investigation into the attack was under way, but did not give further details. Provincial police chief Yaqoub Khan said he could not give details on the base that was attacked, but said all the NATO bases in the area are run by Americans.

On Monday, international and Afghan forces in Khost city repelled an insurgent attack on the provincial government headquarters, NATO said.