Nine dead in Taliban attack on Kandahar airport

At least nine people have been killed in heavy fighting at the airport in the Afghan city of Kandahar, reports say.

The Taliban said it carried out the attack at the heavily fortified airport on Tuesday evening.

A spokesman for the provincial governor said the attackers had managed to breach the first gate of the complex in the southern city. The airport compound houses the joint Nato and Afghan military headquarters.

"Several insurgents" had carried out the attack, the provincial governor's spokesman Samim Khopalwaq told AFP.

Officials said the attackers had met heavy resistance from troops inside, with local authorities reportedly deploying commandos to the area.

An unconfirmed statement by the Taliban claimed that they had killed up to 80 soldiers, though this figure could not verified.

Raziq Shirzai, the Afghan air force commander in the southern region, told the media that there were some civilians among the dead and wounded. At least 20 people have been injured.

It was unclear early on Wednesday if the fighting had ended, and if any militants had been killed.