The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the Taliban initiated attack at Kandahar airport on 8 December, which reportedly killed 39 civilians, including four children and injured at least 23 civilians.
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The death toll from more than 24 hours of heavy fighting between Taliban fighters and Afghan troops at a major airport in southern Afghanistan has risen to 50, a lot of them civilians, the Afghan Defense Ministry said.
“The last attacker was killed around 20:15 last night”, Defence Ministry spokesperson Dawlat Waziri said.
Samim Khpalwak, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor, told the AFP that the Taliban targeted the homes of government employees and the joint Afghan-NATO military base on the airport complex.
The Taliban also released a photo of what it says are the 10 men in military uniforms it sent to attack the Kandahar airport.
The coordinated assault took place overnight and involved an entire squad of suicide bombers attacking Afghan security forces. The Afghan government said last week that the Taliban’s new leader, Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, was wounded in internecine fighting in the Pakistani city of Quetta.
Local commanders have reportedly said they intercepted militants communicating in Urdu, commonly spoken in neighbouring Pakistan.
But the attack, which coincided with the start of the Heart of Asia regional security conference in Islamabad, underlined the movement’s continuing ability to attack key targets after its success in briefly capturing the northern city of Kunduz in September.
He said the blood of innocent people spilled in recent attacks was “the same colour as the red carpet we trod like a catwalk”.
U.S. Army Col. Michael Lawhorn said the Taliban “never physically entered the airfield” in Kandahar, but fired toward the air base from positions inside a nearby school.
And the Taliban attacked Afghan security forces and took control of Khanisheen district in southern Helmand province, according to the head of provincial council of Helmand province.
The leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan jointly opened the conference, with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif saying Islamabad wanted to revive peace talks between Afghanistan and the Taliban that have been stalled since the summer.
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Pakistan, which wields considerable influence over the Taliban, hosted a milestone first round of peace negotiations in July.
