Dozens killed in ongoing Taliban attack on Afghan airport

A pro-Taliban website said “a number of martyrdom seekers armed with heavy and light weapons entered Kandahar air base undetected” and attacked “invaders and hirelings”.

Afghan security forces were fighting the Taliban in the southern city of Kandahar today, a day after the insurgents raided the city’s sprawling airport, killing at least 18 people and taking six people hostage, officials said.

They also gave a grossly exaggerated death toll saying that the assailants reported over telephone as having killed around 80 Afghan and foreign forces, and destroying 13 armoured carriers.

One said: “Soldiers were calling on Taliban attackers to let women and children go but attackers declined”.

Officials said the attackers targeted residential areas within the compound and battled with Afghan forces after breaking past the first gate of the complex, reports AFP.

In addition, nine Taliban were killed and another wounded with a final survivor still resisting security forces, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the operation had proceeded slowly to minimize casualties.

The insurgents are regularly known to exaggerate battlefield claims.

The incursion on Kandahar airport coincides with the Heart of Asia summit in Pakistan, which many hope will provide an opportunity to talk about reviving peace talks.

Cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan is essential to ending the insurgency by the Afghan Taliban, who have bases on both sides of the countries’ porous border.

Officials said the attackers had encountered with significant opposition from troops indoors, with local authorities apparently deploying commandos to the region. The airfield served as headquarters and home base for Canadians during the Afghan war.

“The latest violence came as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called for help to defeat terrorism, at a regional conference in Pakistan”, notes BBC.

An Afghan official says the Taliban have launched an attack at the airport in the southern city of Kandahar, where clashes are still underway.

Last month, a breakaway faction of the Taliban elected its own leader, Mullah Mohammed Rasool Akhund, sparking speculation over the unity of the group.

The Taliban released an audio message on Saturday purportedly from Mansour, vehemently rejecting reports of any shootout as “enemy propaganda”.

Pakistan hosted rare face-to-face talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban last summer, but the negotiations collapsed after Afghanistan announced that longtime Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had died in a Pakistani hospital two years earlier.