KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — Fifty people have died in an attack at a market bazaar and a school near Kandahar airport that began late Tuesday, Afghan officials said.
The number included 38 civilians, 10 Afghan National Army soldiers and two policemen, the Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
Another 35 people were wounded.
Nine terrorists were also killed, the ministry said. And one was wounded.
The Taliban took responsibility for the attack.
The assault occurred hours after a “Message to Obama” was posted to a video site, purportedly of Taliban suicide attackers warning that U.S. troops would not be safe in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said Wednesday night that the Kandahar attack was over.
He claimed 11 attackers were killed and that the airport property was never penetrated.
Taliban fighters carrying machine guns had targeted foreign forces, a Taliban spokesman said in a statement.
Kandahar, the second-largest city in Afghanistan, is about 480 kilometers (300 miles) southwest of the capital of Kabul.
Taliban gunmen opened fire at a bazaar near the Kandahar airport at 6:20 p.m. local time (8:50 a.m. ET) Tuesday, said Samim Ekhpelwak, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province. Afghan forces returned fire.
CNN’s Masoud Popalzai reported from Kabul and CNN’s Don Melvin reported and wrote in London. CNN’s Chieu Luu, Dakota Flournoy and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
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