Eight civilians were killed and 10 others wounded in an attack near the Kandahar airport, Afghan officials tell CNN.
All three attackers were also killed, said Samim Ekhpelwak, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province.
The Taliban took responsibility for the attack, saying the gunmen carried machine guns and were targeting foreign forces, Taliban spokesman Qair Yousful Ahmadi said in a statement.
Kandahar, the second-largest city in Afghanistan, is about 300 miles (480 kilometers) southwest of Kabul, the country’s capital.
Three Taliban gunmen opened fire at a bazaar near the Kandahar airport at 6:20 p.m. local time (8:50 a.m. ET) Tuesday evening, Ekhpelwak said. Afghan National Security Forces returned fire.