Kandahar: At least eight people were killed after Taliban militants stormed the airport complex in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar city, triggering an all-night gun battle, officials said on Wednesday.
“Eight people, including civilians and soldiers, have been killed,” Samim Khpalwak, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor, told AFP.
“The insurgents managed to breach the first gate of the complex,” added Khpalwak.
He added that the insurgents managed to breach the first gate of the airport complex.
Dawood Shah Wafadar, a military commander in Kandahar, gave a higher death toll of 18.
Khpalwak further added that the attackers had managed to enter the air base where they encountered heavy resistance.
“They took up position in a school inside the complex,” said Mohammad Mohsin Sultani, a military spokesman in Kandahar.
The government claimed on Wednesday morning that an unknown number of attackers had been killed but local residents, who were told to hunker down in their homes, were still reporting gunfire and explosions.
The attack on the sprawling complex, which also houses a joint Nato-Afghan base, coincides with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s high-profile visit to Islamabad for a regional conference.
Earlier, explosions and gunfire rang out as Taliban militants stormed the airport complex , officials said.
An Afghan official explained that the attackers managed to enter the air base, but encountered heavy resistance from the security forces stationed at the facility.
The Taliban are strong in southern Afghanistan, which has long been a bastion for the insurgent group.
Previous attacks
Earlier in November, Taliban claimed responsibility of the deadly suicide attack that killed six people, including one soldier, in Kandahar.
In October, Taliban fighters on motorbikes had carried out hit-and-run attacks on Afghan forces trying to clear Kunduz city of insurgents, more than a week after the militant movementbriefly seized the provincial capital.
Afghan forces, hindered by the slow arrival of reinforcements but backed by limited United States (US) air support, struggled to regain control of the city after three days of heavy fighting.
The Taliban stepped up attacks during a summer offensive launched in late April against the Western-backed government in Kabul.
After years of costly involvement, most Nato troops pulled back from the front lines by the end of 2014, although a residual force of around 13,000 remains for training and counter-terrorism operations.
