Death toll in Taliban airport attack rises to 50

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and said that 80 Afghan soldiers were killed.

Witnesses reported that some of the militants took families hostage and used them as human shields.

It was unclear whether any of the hostages were included in the death toll.

Further, UNAMA reiterated that global humanitarian law, which applies to all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, prohibits attacks against civilians at any time and in any place, which additionally includes families of Afghan security forces and other civilians not participating in the conduct of hostilities. It shows 10 young men sporting trimmed beards, Kalashnikovs and identical military uniforms.

“It seems that the insurgents failed to get inside the base itself, so it’s not a security breach on the scale of the Camp Bastion attack in 2012”, the official said.

“There will be an investigation”, said General Daud Shah Wafadar, commander of the 205 Afghan national army corps stationed in Kandahar airfield.

Referring to the Pakistani leader, Nabil noted that “the moment when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif once again stated that Afghanistan’s enemy is Pakistan’s enemy – right at that moment our compatriots in the residential areas of Kandahar Airport, Khanishin district of Helmand and Takhar and Badakhshan” were being killed.

The attack comes as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani spoke of the need to defeat terrorism at the “Heart of Asia” conference in Pakistan – a country that Afghanistan has shared a shaky relationship with in regard to terror. Pakistan, which is believed to wield considerable influence over the Taliban, hosted a milestone first round of peace negotiations in July.

It was the latest in a series of audacious raids by Taliban fighters.

The Taliban have expanded their footprint across the country in recent months, and in September captured and held the northern city of Kunduz for three days.