Cheney says heard "loud boom" when Bagram base attacked

MUSCAT, Oman, Feb 27 (Reuters) US Vice President Dick Cheny heard the bomb attack at the gate of Bagram Airbase where he had spent the night and was briefly moved to a bomb shelter, he said today.

''They clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government,'' Cheney told reporters travelling with him out of Afghanistan on a military plane to Oman.

''Striking at Bagram with a suicide bomber I suppose is one way to do that.'' REUTERS MS PM1943