KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: Dozens of people were killed and wounded in fighting at the airport in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar after an overnight attack by Taliban insurgents that security forces had not entirely suppressed nearly 24 hours later.
With final mopping up operations continuing late on Wednesday afternoon, at least 37 civilians and members of Afghan security forces had been killed and 35 wounded, the defense ministry said.
In addition, nine Taliban were killed and another wounded with a final survivor still resisting security forces, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the operation had proceeded slowly to minimize casualties.
“Afghanistan’s national army forces are bravely fighting terrorists in airport areas and are trying to act cautiously to avoid harm to civilians,” the ministry said.
The airport in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second biggest city, has for years been a major hub for operations of international forces, most of whom had withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
A spokesman for NATO’s Resolute Support mission said there had been no reports of casualties among the hundreds of international personnel at the air base but he had no other details.
The raid in one of the Taliban’s traditional strongholds coincided with the start of the Heart of Asia regional security conference in Islamabad, where Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made a plea for more regional support to fight the growing Islamist insurgency.
Officials said fighters attacked a perimeter area of the huge and heavily fortified complex on Tuesday evening, initially taking up position in a school in a residential area of the site, which houses both a civilian airport and military base.
NATO military personnel, civilian contractors and Afghan forces are based there.
Earlier, the Taliban said in a statement 150 soldiers had been killed but the militants often made exaggerated casualty claims in the past.
The Taliban, fighting to re-establish hard-line Islamist rule after US-led military intervention toppled their regime in 2001, have been struggling to settle a leadership dispute which has seen scores killed in fighting between factions.
But the attack on one of the most heavily protected bases in the country underlined their ability to inflict serious damage on security forces still shaken by the Taliban’s brief capture of the northern city of Kunduz in September.
The Taliban said suicide attackers had entered the base and attacked international forces and their Afghan allies.
The attack follows an earlier incident in which two suicide bombers died attacking a police station in Kandahar.
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul)
Scores dead, wounded in Taliban attack on Kandahar airport
Scores dead, wounded in Taliban attack on Kandahar airport
Danish Supreme Court case opens on arms sales to Israel
Denmark’s Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by four humanitarian organizations that accuse the country of violating international law by exporting weapons to Israel.
In April 2025, a lower court rejected the lawsuit, filed against the Danish foreign ministry and national police by the Palestinian human rights association Al-Haq, ActionAid Denmark, and the Danish branches of Amnesty International and Oxfam.
The organizations allege Denmark is violating its international commitments by selling Israel parts for F-35 jet fighters, given what an Amnesty official called Israel’s “war crimes and genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
The Supreme Court will solely address the question of whether the organizations are entitled to test the legality of Denmark’s arms sales in the courts.
The Eastern High Court found, in an April 2025 ruling seen by AFP, that the plaintiffs “cannot be considered to be affected in such a direct, individual and concrete manner that they meet the general conditions of Danish law regarding their right to bring proceedings.”
If the four win their case before the Supreme Court, they intend to move forward and contest the legality of Denmark’s arms sales to Israel.
“Amnesty International’s documentation shows that Israel is committing war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza,” Dina Hashem, an Amnesty official in Denmark, told AFP.
“Under the UN arms trade treaty and the UN common position on arms exports, states must deny an export license if there is a clear, overriding risk that this equipment could be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law,” she said.
“And that risk is clearly present in Gaza.”
‘In accordance’
In April, the Danish foreign ministry told AFP the Scandinavian country’s position on export control, including the F-35 program, was “in accordance with applicable EU and international law obligations.”
The Danish lawsuit was filed in March 2024 on the heels of a similar suit filed in the Netherlands by a coalition of humanitarian organizations.
A Dutch court in December 2024 rejected demands by pro-Palestinian groups for a total ban on exporting goods to Israel that can be used for military means.
The court ruled the government was respecting rules governing the country’s arms trade.
In Gaza, Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating a fragile ceasefire that came into force on October 10, 2025 after two years of war.
At least 618 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, a figure the UN has deemed reliable.
According to the Israeli army, five of its soldiers have been killed.
Given the restrictions imposed on media in Gaza, AFP is not able to independently verify the tolls provided by the two sides.
Denmark’s Supreme Court is due to announce its ruling in about a week.
