Taliban (file photo)

KABUL, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) — Taliban militants have intensified activities in their former strongholds across Afghanistan over the past months.

They stormed Kandahar airport on Tuesday night, triggering heavy fighting. The militants first occupied a residential complex, and then stormed their targeted airport.

In an online statement on Thursday, the militants said a group of their suicide bombers sneaked into the airport Tuesday night and challenged the Afghan and foreign forces, inflicting huge casualties.

Taliban militants have also been fighting government forces in the neighboring Helmand province over the past several months, and they have claimed capturing Khanshin district in the province.

In an online statement on Thursday, the armed outfit claimed that Khanshin district was taken on Wednesday evening.

But spokesman for Helmand provincial government, Omar Zawak, in a meeting with local media, rejected Taliban’s claim as baseless, saying clashes between security forces and Taliban are going on in Khanshin district.

The southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces, both notorious for growing poppy and militancy, have been regarded as traditional hotbeds of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Both Afghan government forces and Taliban militants, according to local analysts, have been trying their best to take more grounds and strengthen their positions ahead of snowfall in the mountainous central Asian country.