KABUL, Afghanistan — A group of would-be suicide bombers tried to storm a major NATO base in eastern Afghanistan early today but were repelled before they could enter, officials said.

A bomb hidden in a motorbike also exploded on a busy street in the Imam Sahib district of the northern province of Kunduz, killing 10 people, including a police commander and three children, according to the Interior Ministry.

The attacks, which occurred a day after a suicide car bomber targeted a U.S. convoy outside Kabul, were the latest show of force by the Taliban as the U.S.-led alliance steps up pressure against the insurgents in the southern stronghold of Kandahar.

Saturday’s assault — the second against the base in five months — underscored the Taliban’s ability to strike at the core of the NATO mission and to enjoy relative freedom of movement across the country despite a series of NATO offensives and an infusion of thousands of additional international forces.

The insurgents attacked an Afghan army checkpoint outside the Jalalabad base at dawn, sparking a gunbattle that lasted at least two hours as NATO helicopters fired from above.

Six insurgents were killed, including two who were wearing bomb-laden suicide vests, according to the international military coalition. No NATO or Afghan troops were killed, the coalition said.