Taliban suicide attack hits NATO, kills 21 A TALIBAN suicide bomber on a motorbike has rammed an Afghan-NATO patrol in the town of Khost, killing 21 people, including three NATO soldiers. Another 37 people were wounded in the overnight blast in the eastern town close to the border with Pakistan, where Taliban and other Islamist insurgents fighting US-led troops have strongholds. It was the second major attack on NATO in Khost in three weeks. The government blamed the Taliban and a spokesman for the insurgent militia later claimed responsibility for the attack. The bombing will only heighten fears about security as NATO prepares to hand responsibility to Afghan forces and recall the vast majority of its 130,000 combat troops by the end of 2014. The Taliban, leading a 10-year insurgency against the Western-backed government, have begun their annual fighting season with a series of attacks that forced US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to admit that violence was rising. Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the blast targeted a combined Afghan and coalition patrol passing through Khost, one of the most troubled parts of Afghanistan. Khost shares a porous border with Pakistan's tribal belt, which lies outside government control, and where US officials say the Taliban and al-Qaeda have carved out bases for operations in Afghanistan. The Haqqani network, a militant group close to al-Qaeda and blamed for some of the most daring insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, is particularly active in the province. Amir Padsha, the director of Khost city hospital, said the bodies of three police officers and eight civilians, along with 17 wounded were brought in. Babri Gul, the head of a private hospital in Khost, said he had received six bodies, including four members of the same family, and 20 wounded. The US embassy in Kabul confirmed that three members of the US-led NATO mission and an Afghan interpreter were killed. An ISAF official said the three personnel were soldiers. Afghan police and interior ministry officials confirmed that the four dead announced by the Americans were in addition to the 17 Afghan bodies taken to local hospitals.