The attack came days after a Kabul car bombing killed 18 people, including six foreign troops
Suspected fighters have launched a rocket and ground attack on Nato's main military base in southern Afghanistan, days after a similar assault on the coalition's military base in Bagram.
Nato officials said the fighters fired a number of rockets and mortars at the Kandahar Air Field on Saturday, wounding an unspecified number of Nato troops.
"Kandahar Air Field came under indirect fire at approximately 8:00 tonight and shortly afterward a ground attack was under way as well," a Nato spokesman said.
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from the capital, Kabul, said the attack is a "huge blow" for Nato forces.
"Specifically because it comes after two major attacks that happened over the past six days. The latest attack was at Bagram air field, which is the biggest air field in the country," she said.
"Before that - just a day before - there was a suicide bombing here in Afghanistan where six foreign soldiers were killed.
"So certainly, the Taliban are trying to show that they are there and they are able to fight."
Taliban offensive
The attack on Bagram airbase, near Kabul, on Wednesday left one US contractor dead and nine Nato troops wounded.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack, saying 20 suicide bombers took part in the assault, which included rockets, small arms and grenades, Nato's International Security Assistance Force, or Isaf, said.
The recent spate of attacks follow the Taliban's announcement that it would launch a spring offensive against Nato and Afghan forces in response to Nato's plans for a military campaign on the group's southern stronghold of Kandahar.
Separately on Saturday, three foreign soldiers and one civilian working with Isaf were killed in two separate incidents in southern Afghanistan.
"In a separate incident, also in southern Afghanistan, another Isaf service member died following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack," Nato said in a statement on Saturday.
The latest casualties bring the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year to 215, according to figures on the icasualties.org website.
In 2009, the deadliest year since the US-led an invasion that overthrew the Taliban in late 2001, 520 foreign soldiers were killed.
The US and its Nato allies are increasing to 150,000 their military deployment in Afghanistan, about two-thirds of which is American.
The Taliban claimed responsibility Sunday for a nighttime assault on NATO's base in Kandahar, as Afghan officials confirmed that a traditional gathering of elders and community leaders will be postponed for a second time.
NATO officials said militants fired rockets and mortar shells at the Kandahar Air Field late Saturday, and tried unsuccessfully to storm the northern perimeter of the base.
Several coalition troops and civilian employees were wounded, but there were no reports of deaths.
Also Sunday, Afghan officials said the three-day "jirga" to discuss prospects for peace has been postponed again. The gathering was to start on May 29, but now will be held from June 2-4.
In other violence Sunday, the police chief of Andar district in eastern Ghazni province was killed in a gunbattle with militants.
The attack at Kandahar was the second Taliban assault on a large military installation in Afghanistan in less than a week.
On Wednesday, militants attacked the main U.S. military base at Bagram, killing an American contractor.
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