Taliban suicide attackers in Afghanistan killed the South African leader of a foreign aid group, his son and daughter and an worker in an assault on the agency’s Kabul offices.

Gunmen have launched a pre-dawn attack on Kabul International Airport in the Afghan capital, raining down rockets, setting off a gunbattle with security forces and forcing the airport to close for hours.

Heavily armed Taliban insurgents have killed 18 people – most of them civilians - in an attack on a lakeside hotel just north of Kabul.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai made an immediate demand of Barack Obama today, saying the president-elect must prevent civilian casualties as Afghan villagers alleged that airstrikes killed or wounded dozens of women and children in a wedding party.

Nato’s top commander has renewed an appeal for allies to urgently provide up to 2,500 troops for the battle with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.