Air traffic out of Kabul was halted for hours this morning as militants stormed the military side of the city's airport, sparking an hours-long battle with Afghan security forces. The attackers seized two buildings under construction and fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades from them, but Afghan authorities say all seven militants were killed without any fatalities among either civilians or security forces, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Before the battle had even ended, the Taliban released a statement claiming its "martyr attackers" had caused serious damage to the airport and inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan and foreign forces. Analysts believe the doomed attack was an attempt to show that the Taliban are still capable of striking in even the most heavily guarded areas. "By launching today's attack, the Taliban are showing they want to have a full hand at the negotiations table," a Kabul-based military analyst tells the Los Angeles Times. (More Afghanistan stories.)
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