At least 50 people, including 10 soldiers, were killed in the Taliban siege of Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan, the defence ministry says.

The last of the 11 attackers was killed late on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement. Of those killed 38 were civilians. Two policemen also died. A number of hostages were seized by the insurgents in the 26-hour attack before Afghan forces finally regained control.

It was the latest in a series of audacious raids by Taliban fighters. The Taliban briefly seized the northern city of Kunduz in September.

The group described its fighters as "martyrdom seekers" who had launched "thunderous attacks on foreign and hireling personnel" in Kandahar.

The Taliban assault on one of the largest air bases in Afghanistan coincided with a regional peace conference in Islamabad, where the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani asked Pakistan to help broker peace negotiations.