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Rockets strike Afghanistan's Kandahar airport, all flights cancelled
Kabul: At least three rockets struck Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan overnight, halting all flights. Authorities reported on Sunday.
Airport chief Massoud Pashtun stated, "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”.
Airport chief further said work to repair the runway was underway and expected the airport to be operational later on Sunday.
An official at the civil aviation authority in Kabul confirmed the rocket attack.
The Taliban have for weeks launched withering assaults on the outskirts of Kandahar, stirring fears that the insurgents were on the verge of capturing the provincial capital.
As per details, Kandahar's air base is vital to provide logistics and air support that is needed to keep the militants from overrunning Afghanistan's second-biggest city.
The attack on the airport came as the Taliban inched closer to overrunning two other provincial capitals— Herat in the west and Lashkar Gah in the south.
The Taliban's significant territorial gains during the final stages of the US military withdrawal have largely been in sparsely populated rural areas.