Taliban attack Kandahar airport, 37 killed

US Army Colonel Michael Lawhorn said the Taliban “never physically entered the airfield” in Kandahar but fired toward the air base from positions inside a local school nearby.

Meanwhile, reports from Afghanistan’s western Herat province said at least 100 insurgents were killed in clashes between rival Taliban factions there.

“After fierce battles with Afghan troops overnight, several surviving attackers were scattered throughout several airport buildings Wednesday and continued fighting with Afghan security forces into the afternoon, officials said”.

The raid coincides with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s high-profile visit to Islamabad on Wednesday for the Heart of Asia conference aimed at promoting regional ties.

The last survivor was killed after he took women and children hostage on the third floor of the army family residences, according to two sources at the airfield who requested anonymity.

The dead included 38 civilians, 10 Afghan soldiers and two police officers as well as the 11 militants, authorities said.

It claimed the assailants reported via telephone that some 80 Afghan and foreign forces had been killed and 13 armoured carriers destroyed.

Also on Wednesday, Taliban militants overran Khanishin district of southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, killing at least 16 security personnel.

Afghan officials often accuse neighbouring Pakistan of supporting Taliban activities in their country.

“When I first read it, it’s always hard to see an attack like that happen with the loss of life”, said Sajjan. However, the insurgents are regularly known to exaggerate battlefield claims.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, also attending the conference, said she was extending India’s hand to Pakistan.

The ongoing threat posed by the Taliban was underlined this week by a raid on the airbase in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second biggest city and a longstanding base for the insurgency.

Samim Khopalwaq, the spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor, says Tuesday’s attack started with the Taliban targeting the facility’s main gate.

The attack represents the enhanced push by the Taliban, who captured the important city of Kunduz a few weeks earlier.

In an angrily worded post on Facebook that appeared before the resignation letter was made public, Nabil made clear his frustration with efforts to work with Pakistan, which many in Afghanistan accuse of controlling the Taliban.