Taliban Rockets Hit Kandahar Airport, All Flights Suspended

By Staff, Agencies

The Taliban terrorist group fired rockets at a key airport in southern Afghanistan causing flight cancelations, and alleging that the attack was meant to thwart airstrikes by Afghan government forces on their positions.

“Kandahar airport was targeted by us because the ‘enemy’ were using it as a center to conduct airstrikes against us,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters on Sunday.

Airport chief Massoud Pashtun also confirmed that the airport was hit with three rockets overnight.

“Last night three rockets were fired at the airport and two of them hit the runway... Due to this all flights from the airport have been cancelled,” he told AFP.

Authorities suspended all flights as the runway was partially damaged. There were no immediate reports of casualties, the officials said.

Pashtun said the airport is expected to be operational later in the day as work to repair the damage is underway.

The attack on the airport came as Afghan government forces are engaged in fierce clashes with the Taliban to prevent the terrorists from advancing on several major cities.

The Taliban now control more than 200 of the country’s 419 district centers, according to the US military.

Clashes continued Sunday between the terrorists and Afghan forces in two provincial capitals of Herat and Lashkar Gah.

The terrorists advanced closer to the central parts of the western city of Herat as clashes entered the fourth day on Sunday.

On the city's outskirts, government forces also targeted Taliban positions with airstrikes overnight.

Herat provincial governor's spokesman Jailani Farhad said that around 100 fighters were killed in the attacks.

Additionally, Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman said hundreds of reinforcements arrived in the city on Sunday morning.

Four days of fighting forced scores of families to flee their homes and seek shelter closer to the heart of the city.

In the meantime, authorities in the southern city of Lashkar Gah called for more troops to rein in the assaults.