A key airport in southern Afghanistan has come under rocket fire as government forces struggle against Taliban assaults on several major cities.
Flights out of Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city, were halted after three rockets fired by the Taliban struck the airport on Sunday before dawn.
Airport chief Massoud Pashtun said two of those rockets hit the runway and repairs were under way. An official at the civil aviation authority in the capital, Kabul confirmed the attack.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, the officials said.
“Kandahar airport was targeted by us because the enemy were using it as a centre to conduct air strikes against us,” Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, told Reuters news agency.
The facility is vital to providing the logistical and air support needed to keep the Taliban from overrunning the city, while also providing aerial cover for large tracts of southern Afghanistan.
in the months since early May when US-led foreign forces began a final withdrawal from Afghanistan that is now almost complete.
After seizing large tracts of rural territory and capturing key border crossings, the Taliban has now started to besiege provincial capitals.
