Up to 50 dead as Kandahar siege ends

KANDAHAR:

At least 50 people have been confirmed to have died in the 27-hour siege of Kandahar airport by Taliban fighters, Afghan officials said Thursday.

Late Tuesday night, 11 suicide attackers had breached the high-security complex, which also houses a joint Nato-Afghan base, taking families hostage and triggering pitched fire fights with soldiers.

In 14 years of the Afghan war, this was the most serious attack on the complex, the largest military installation in the south of the country.

A statement by Afghan defence ministry said 38 civilians, 10 soldiers and two policemen were martyred in the attack. Another 37 people, including 17 soldiers, were wounded.

A group of terrorists had attacked a bazaar and a school within the airport complex. Some of them detonated their suicide vests among civilians.

About 27 hours after the siege began, soldiers killed the last insurgent holed up inside a building. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2015.