The first sign of the attack was somewhat mystifying: a tractor suddenly going up in flames on farmland beyond the base. But there no ambiguity about what followed. A group of men charged, the first blowing himself up as he reached the fence, the others behind opening up with rifle fire. At the same moment, the first of a salvo of rockets launched from a distance landed inside Kandahar airfield. It lasted no more than a few minutes. Once the tractor packed with explosives had prematurely detonated there was little chance of the Taliban fighters getting through, their suicide vests exploding as the Western troops cut them down. As the gunfire ended, and the smoke and fire began to clear, body parts and dismembered heads could be seen lying amid the unused arsenal -- rocket-propelled grenade launchers, hand grenades and Kalashnikovs. There was no intrinsic military gain for the insurgents in the assault, a fortnight ago, with only a 4ft-wide hole in the fence to show for five deaths. There was little chance of escape for the fighters even if they had turned back, with a dozen warplanes and helicopters already overhead. But it had propaganda value with some news reports declaring a "complex operation" which "led to a fierce hour-long firefight". The fact the target was Nato's airbase at Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban and scene of the next major US-led offensive, gave it greater resonance. "But what a waste of lives, blowing themselves up at a