Afghan forces strike Taliban hideout, several insurgents killed

Dozens of terrorists were killed in the attack in Zherai district of Kandahar province, it said.

Over 250 Taliban insurgents have been slain while nearly 100 were wounded in battles underway in several major cities over the past 24 hours, the government has said.

These attacks came as the Taliban launched assaults targeting Kandahar, stirring fears that the insurgents were on the verge of capturing the provincial capital.

Kandahar's air base is critical for Afghanistan's national forces to provide the logistics and air support required to stop the militants from seizing Afghanistan's second-biggest city.

The strikes on the airport followed the Taliban's as it came closer to capturing two other provincial capitals -- Herat in the west and Lashkar Gah in the south.

Earlier, Taliban captured sparsely populated areas but in recent weeks it has targeted provincial capitals and seized key border crossings.

At least three rockets struck Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan last night, AFP reported, as Taliban intensified offensive to capture more areas and counter military action by Afghan forces to contain and eliminate the armed group.