Taliban suicide bombers have killed four Afghan soldiers and wounded NATO troops in an attack on a joint U.S.-Afghan airbase in eastern Afghanistan, BBC News reported.

As a local police chief said, two civilians were also killed in the attack on the base in Jalalabad.

Afghan intelligence officials said nine suicide attackers were involved in the assault, and all had been killed.

NATO did not say how many of its troops had been injured, or how seriously.

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Kabul said the attack appeared "coordinated and complex".

She added that this is not the first time the Taliban has targeted the air base, which is used by U.S. and NATO forces. In February it killed nine people in a similar attack.

The NATO spokesman said the assault was a failure because the Taliban did not penetrate the base.

NATO is gradually handing security over to Afghan forces ahead of the departure of most combat troops in 2014.