Kabul, December 21 (RHC)-- At least five soldiers, including three U.S. troops, have been killed in an attack on a patrol near Bagram Air Base in the eastern Afghan province of Parwan. Officials said on Monday that an attacker on a motorbike rammed it into a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol near Bagram, killing five and injuring six others.

NATO headquarters in the Afghan capital of Kabul confirmed the attack, saying they have launched an investigation into the incident. The police chief of Parwan said more details could emerge of the foreign troops casualties in the coming hours, adding that three Afghan police forces were also wounded in the attack.

Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, with a spokesman claiming in a tweet that 19 U.S. soldiers were killed near the military facility.

Washington has maintained around 9,800 U.S. troops in Bagram, located around 40 km north of Kabul, after it decided to pull out the bulk of its forces from Afghanistan last year.

The attack on foreign troops comes more than a week after Taliban targeted a guest house of the Spanish embassy in Kabul and another air base in the southern province of Kandahar.