WASHINGTON, Oct 18: A suicide attack has killed a CIA officer and an American soldier in southwestern Afghanistan, CNN reported on Thursday.

The attack on a joint US-Afghan military base on Saturday also killed four Afghan National Security troops.

Quoting official US sources, CNN reported that the attacker was a member of the Afghan National Security Force.

The US media reported the attack on Wednesday but gave little details.

Although US officials confirmed on Thursday that a CIA officer was among those killed, they did not identify him. The soldier, however, was identified as Brittany B. Gordon, 24, of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Specialist Gordon was assigned to the 572 Military Intelligence Company.

A US Department of Defence news release said she died of “wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked her unit with an improvised explosive device”.

The CIA declined to comment on the report of the death of an agency employee, but a second US official told CNN the officer was a male.

Other officials said the bombing was an insider attack because the bomber was wearing the uniform of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan government’s intelligence service. The bomber struck while the group was on patrol.

“Insider attack” is the term used by the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force for Afghan forces attacking allied or other Afghan troops.

The patrol was attacked near a bazaar in the town of Maruf, located less than 100 miles east of the Kandahar city.