A group of suicide bombers have tried to attack a major Nato base in eastern Afghanistan but were repelled before they could enter.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack - their second assault on the Nato base and an adjoining airport outside Jalalabad city in six months.

A spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial government said eight attackers were killed, including two who were wearing explosive-laden suicide vests.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said there were 14 attackers and that 11 of them were killed.

The militants attacked the Afghan army checkpoint outside the base shortly after dawn on Saturday, sparking a gunbattle that lasted at least two hours with NATO helicopters firing from overhead, said a national army commander at the site.

NATO forces said no foreign or Afghan forces were killed.

In June, militants assaulted the Nato base with a car bomb, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons but did not breach its defences.

The base is about 75 miles east of Kabul on the main road between the Afghan capital and the Pakistan border.