Image copyright Reuters Image caption Afghan troops keep watch at the base near Mazar-e-Sharif after the attack

More than 100 Afghan soldiers were killed or wounded in a Taliban attack on an army base on Friday, the defence ministry has confirmed.

Fighting lasted for several hours near the city of Mazar-e Sharif in northern Balkh province.

Insurgents targeted those leaving Friday prayers at the base's mosque and others in a canteen, the army said.

The Taliban said in a statement they had carried out the attack, using suicide bombers to breach defences.

Earlier estimates put the death toll as high as 134, but a statement from the defence ministry on Saturday gave the figure of more than 100 killed or injured.

It is one of the deadliest tolls in a Taliban attack on the Afghan army.

At least 10 Taliban militants were also killed in the fighting and one attacker was detained.

The Afghan government has declared Sunday a day of national mourning.

Separately, the US military command in Afghanistan said that Taliban commander Quari Tayib had been killed in a coalition air strike.

It said that Tayib was "once known as the shadow Taliban governor of Takhar province" in the north-east, and was killed along with eight other Taliban fighters in the strike on 17 April.

The Taliban fighters who attacked the base wore army uniforms and drove through checkpoints to launch the raid, a military spokesman said.

One injured soldier, Mohammad Hussain, said: "When I came out of the mosque, three people with army uniforms and an army vehicle started shooting at us. Of course, they had some infiltrators inside the base, otherwise they would never have been able to enter.

"One of them sitting inside a vehicle had set up a machine gun at the car's window and shot everyone in his way."

President Ashraf Ghani flew to the area on Saturday and visited wounded troops.

US military spokesman John Thomas described the attack as a "significant" strike, but he praised Afghan commandos for bringing the "atrocity to an end".

Relatives' anger: Syed Anwar, BBC News, Kabul

Image caption Jan Agah from Jowzjan province lost a nephew in the attack

There are conflicting reports about casualties. The defence ministry confirmed more than 100 soldiers had been "killed or injured" but a security official in Mazar-e Sharif told the BBC that more than 100 had died, including a top military commander.

Relatives of some of the soldiers gathered outside the base to take possession of coffins. They all questioned the security measures in place at the main entrance.

"If strict inspections had taken place, the attackers would not have passed the first gate," said Jan Agah, from Jowzjan province. One of his nephews serving at the base died and another was injured in the attack.

The raid shows the Taliban can plan and carry out complex attacks. The militants said four of the attackers had served as soldiers for a long time and had knowledge of every corner of the base.

The base at Mazar-e-Sharif is home to the Afghan National Army's 209th Corps, responsible for providing security to most of northern Afghanistan, including Kunduz province - which has seen heavy recent fighting.

Several German and other foreign soldiers are reported to be garrisoned there.

Last month about 50 people were reported to have died when militants believed to be from the group known as Islamic State targeted patients and staff at a military hospital in Kabul with guns, grenades and knives.

Also in March the Taliban said they had captured the crucial south Afghan district of Sangin after a year-long battle. </s> MAZAR-I-SHARIF/KABUL: As many as 140 Afghan soldiers were killed on Friday by Taliban attackers apparently disguised in military uniforms in what would be the deadliest attack ever on an Afghan military base, officials said.

The Defense Ministry said the toll was "over 100" Afghan soldiers killed and wounded.

One official in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where the attack occurred, said on Saturday at least 140 soldiers were killed and many others wounded. Other officials said the toll was likely to be even higher.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the government has yet to release exact casualty figures.

The attack starkly highlighted the struggle by the Afghan government and its international backers to defeat a potent Taliban insurgency that has gripped Afghanistan for more than a decade.

A US official in Washington on Friday had put the toll at more than 50 killed and wounded.

As many as 10 Taliban fighters, dressed in Afghan army uniforms and driving military vehicles, made their way onto the base and opened fire on mostly unarmed soldiers eating a meal and leaving a mosque after Friday prayers, according to officials. The attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and rifles, and several detonated suicide vests packed with explosive, they said.

Witnesses described a scene of confusion as soldiers were uncertain who the attackers were.

"It was a chaotic scene and I didn't know what to do," said one army officer wounded in the attack. "There was gunfire and explosions everywhere."

The base is the headquarters for the Afghan National Army's 209th Corps, responsible for much of northern Afghanistan, including Kunduz province where there has been heavy fighting.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement on Saturday the attack was retribution for the recent killing of several senior Taliban leaders in northern Afghanistan.

Four of the attackers were Taliban sympathisers who had infiltrated the army and served for some time, Mujahid said. That claim has not been confirmed by the Afghan army.

The NATO-led military coalition deploys advisers to the base where the attack occurred to train and assist the Afghan forces but coalition officials said no international troops were involved in the attack.

"The attack on the 209th Corps today shows the barbaric nature of the Taliban," the commander of coalition forces, US General John Nicholson, said in a statement on Friday. </s> ISLAMABAD — A Taliban suicide raid on a major military base in northern Afghanistan is reported to have left at least 140 people dead, mostly soldiers, in the deadliest attack on Afghan forces since 2001.

Witnesses said a group of 10 heavily armed suicide bombers aboard two army vehicles and disguised as government soldiers stormed the Afghan National Army’s 209th Shaheen Corps Headquarters Friday in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of the northern Balkh province.

Local television stations quoted an unnamed security official and regional politicians Saturday as saying that “at least 140 soldiers were killed in Friday afternoon’s attack… and at least 100 soldiers were also wounded.”

Survivors being treated at a city hospital told local TOLOnews TV they believed without “inside help” it would not have been possible for the attackers to make their way to the center of the heavily fortified military base where the mosque is located.

“We are soldiers from the corps but we cannot enter the base easily, but it is unfortunate that suicide bombers managed to enter the base easily. My foot was wounded in this incident,” a wounded solider identified as Lotfullah told the private television station.

According to local officials, one group of Taliban assailants sprayed Afghan soldiers with bullets as they were leaving a mosque following afternoon prayers, while another group stormed a dining facility at the military compound before Afghan commandos surrounded and engaged them in fierce gun-battles.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, swiftly took credit for the attack. He released fresh details to reporters on Saturday along with a picture of the purported bombers. Mujahid claimed the siege lasted for ten hours and “up to 500 enemy soldiers were killed and wounded, including key officers.”

The spokesman said the deadly raid was a retaliation for the recent killings of Taliban shadow governors for the neighboring Kunduz and Baghlan provinces along with a number of colleagues by U.S. backed Afghan forces.

He warned that Friday’s attack on the army headquarters in Balkh is “a message for all the enemy soldiers, police, intelligence operatives and relevant (Afghan) institutions that this year’s (Taliban) operations will be more brutal and painful for them.”

Separately, the U.S. military confirmed Saturday the killing of top Taliban commander in an airstrike this week. An official statement identified the slain man as Qari Tayyib, once known as the Taliban’s shadow governor of the northern Takhar province. It said the strike at Qari’s compound in the nearby Kunduz province also eliminated eight Taliban fighters.

“Tayyib had been a target-of-interest since 2001 and was directly responsible for the deaths of U.S. service members in Afghanistan,” according to the U.S. military.

Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command spokesman Colonel John Thomas described the incident as a “significant attack from enemy forces” and said “we are helping the Afghan forces in any way that we can.”

The Afghan military base that came under attack on Friday houses tens of thousands of soldiers who are regularly engaged in anti-Taliban operations in troubled northern regions of the country.

Military advisers and trainers from NATO’s U.S.-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan are also stationed at the base. But there were no reports of foreign troop casualties.

A presidential spokesman confirmed to VOA President Ashraf Ghani left Kabul for Mazar-i-Sharif on Saturday to discuss and review the post-violence situation with provincial authorities. Ghani visited wounded soldiers shortly after arriving in the city.

Friday’s attack followed U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster’s first visit to Kabul earlier this week where he vowed to strengthen the call for defeating Taliban insurgents on the battleground who refuse to join an Afghan government-led peace process.

The attack on a highly secured Afghan military facility has refueled criticism of the government’s security measures and its policy in tackling the resurgent Taliban.

Afghan security forces have suffered massive casualties since U.S.-led foreign combat troops left Afghanistan in 2014. In the first eight months of 2016, insurgent attacks killed close to 7,000 Afghan security forces, according to figures local officials shared with the U.S. military.

A truck bombing this past November in the provincial capital targeted the German consulate, killing six Afghans and injuring more than 100 others.

Friday’s insurgent assault was the deadliest since April 2016, when Taliban suicide bombers stormed an office of the Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul, killing at least 60 people.

The latest violence came a month after suicide bombers assaulted the country’s largest military hospital in the Afghan capital, killing about 40 people and wounding dozens more. Doctors and soldiers were among the victims.

That attack was claimed by loyalists of the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

Ekram Shinwari in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.
• Afghanistan Declares National Mourning After Army Base Attack Kills More Than 130
• Survivors Say Insurgents Had Help From Inside Base
• Ghani Calls On Nation To Raise Its Voice Against Terrorism </s> MAZAR-I-SHARIF/KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - President Ashraf Ghani declared a national day of mourning after scores of soldiers were killed by Taliban fighters disguised as fellow soldiers, in the deadliest attack of its kind on an Afghan military base.

The defense ministry has said more than 100 died or were injured in the Friday attack in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, but no exact numbers have been released.

One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters at least 140 soldiers were killed and many others wounded. Other officials said the toll was likely to be even higher.

The attack starkly highlighted the difficulty of the long struggle by the Afghan government and its international backers to defeat the Taliban insurgency.

After arriving in Mazar-i-Sharif to visit the base on Saturday, Ghani ordered that flags be flown at half mast on Sunday in memory of the troops who died.

Ghani held an emergency meeting with senior security officials and called for a “serious” investigation into the attack.

In a statement online, he condemned the attack as “cowardly” and the work of “infidels”.

Related Coverage Confusion, chaos after Taliban breach Afghan base in deadly attack

As many as 10 Taliban fighters, dressed in Afghan army uniforms and driving military vehicles, made their way into the base and opened fire on mostly unarmed soldiers eating and leaving a mosque after Friday prayers, according to officials.

They used rocket-propelled grenades and rifles, and several detonated suicide vests packed with explosives, officials said.

Witnesses described a scene of confusion as soldiers were uncertain about the attackers’ true identity.

“It was a chaotic scene and I didn’t know what to do,” said one army officer wounded in the attack. “There was gunfire and explosions everywhere.”

The base is the headquarters of the Afghan National Army’s 209th Corps, responsible for much of northern Afghanistan, including Kunduz, a province which has seen heavy fighting.

TALIBAN “RETRIBUTION”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Saturday the attack on the base was retribution for the recent killing of several senior Taliban leaders in northern Afghanistan.

Coffins containing the bodies of Afghan national Army (ANA) soldiers killed in April 21's attack on an army headquarters are lined up in Mazar-i-Sharif, northern Afghanistan April 22, 2017. Presidential Palace /Handout via REUTERS

The U.S. military command in Kabul said an American air strike had killed a commander, Quari Tayib, and eight other Taliban on April 17.

Mujahid said the attack on the base killed as many as 500 soldiers, including senior commanders.

Four of the attackers were Taliban sympathizers who had infiltrated the army and served for some time, Mujahid said. The Afghan army did not confirm that.

The NATO-led military coalition deploys advisers to the base to train and assist Afghan forces but coalition officials said no foreign troops had been hurt.

U.S. Navy Captain Bill Salvin, spokesperson for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission, said there were a small number of coalition force advisers on the base at the time of the attack.

“They sheltered in place during the incident. The Afghan Special Forces brought the attack to an end,” Salvin said.

The commander of coalition forces, U.S. General John Nicholson, said in a statement on Friday that the attack “shows the barbaric nature of the Taliban.”

German forces have long led the international mission in northern Afghanistan.

Slideshow (7 Images)

In Berlin, military officials said the work of the mission on the base would be on hold for one or two days while the Afghan army investigated the attack, but would resume.

“The situation shows that we cannot stop supporting, training and advising our Afghan partners,” a German Operations Command spokesman said. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s army chief and defense minister resigned on Monday, following a Taliban attack over the weekend that struck a northern army base, killing more than 100 military and other personnel, officials said.

The attack — the biggest ever by the Taliban on a military base in Afghanistan — involved multiple gunmen and suicide bombers in army uniforms who penetrated the compound of the 209th Corps of the Afghan National Army in northern Balkh province on Friday, killing and wounding scores.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault, which according to some estimates killed over 130 people.

President Ashraf Ghani accepted the resignations of the army chief of staff and the country’s defense minister, according to a statement from the president’s office.

It was not immediately clear who would replace Defense Minister Abdullah Habibi and Army Chief of Staff Qadam Shah Shahim.

The authorities have not released definitive numbers for the casualty tolls but Afzel Hadid, the head of the provincial council in Balkh, told The Associated Press that at least 130 people were killed and 80 were wounded.

Also on Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived unannounced in Kabul to assess what has become America’s longest war as the Trump administration weighs sending in more U.S. troops to help the Afghans fight the insurgency.

Ghani on Saturday traveled to the base in Balkh from where he strongly condemned the attack, according to a tweet from the official Twitter account of the presidential palace. And on Sunday, Afghanistan marked a day of national mourning, with memorial services held at mosques and the Afghan flag flying at half-staff on government buildings and offices across the country.

In the Taliban’s detailed statement on the attack, posted on the militant group’s website, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that four of the 10 attackers were disguised as soldiers.

The statement said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of the Taliban shadow governor of Kunduz province, Mullah Abdul Salam Akhund, and threatened more violence against the army and police, saying “this year’s operations will be painful.”

The attackers managed to pass through two checkpoints at the base, driving in two military vehicles. When security guards stopped them at a third gate, the attackers opened fire and two suicide bombers blew themselves up.

The military’s 209th corps is located in the Dihdadi district of Balkh. It is one of seven corps of the country’s Ministry of Defense, which is responsible for providing security for Afghanistan’s northern and northeastern provinces.

The attack in Balkh raises serious questions about the Afghan military’s capability to stand on its own in the battle against the insurgency following the withdrawal of foreign combat forces at the end of 2014. The American and other foreign troops remaining in Afghanistan are now mostly acting in an advisory and training role, with some combat assistance.

In March, an attack on a military hospital in Kabul killed 50 people. Responsibility for that attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, which has emerged and gained a foothold in Afghanistan over the past years. </s> Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says 26 soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in a Taliban attack on a military base in the southern province of Kandahar, although other government officials said the death toll was at least 30.

Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said 80 Taliban militants were also killed or wounded in the attack on the Karzyalay military base in Kandahar’s Khakrez district early on July 26.

The attack came amid a deadly surge of violence in Afghanistan, where government forces are struggling to fend off a resurgent Taliban that controls more territory than at any time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that at least 30 soldiers were killed in the attack.

Sediq Esa, a spokesman for the 205th Corps in Kandahar, also said at least 30 Afghan military personnel were killed.

Esa said the militants seized the base and captured weapons and vehicles.

In a statement, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it had killed 74 soldiers and captured six others.

The Defense Ministry said government forces, backed by the air force, recaptured the base after several hours.

Kandahar has been the scene of constant militant attacks since 2001. The province is the spiritual heartland of the Taliban and located on the porous border with Pakistan, where the militant group’s leadership is believed to be based.

Taliban militants have ramped up their attacks on military bases across the country, challenging the thinly stretched security forces.

The U.S. Special Inspector-General for Reconstruction (SIGAR) has called the casualty rate among Afghan forces "shockingly high." Last year, more than 6,800 were killed and another 12,000 wounded, according to a SIGAR report this year.

In April, at least 140 soldiers were killed on a base outside the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, one of the deadliest-ever Taliban attacks on a military installation.

In March, gunmen disguised as doctors stormed the Sardar Daud Khan hospital -- the country's largest military hospital -- in Kabul, killing 50 people.

The Taliban is threatening to overrun districts in Baghlan, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Helmand, Farah, and Uruzgan provinces, according to officials.

The militants captured three districts in the past seek, although the ministry said Kohistan district in the northwestern province of Faryab was recaptured late on July 25.

On July 24, a Taliban suicide car bombing killed at least 26 people and wounded 41 others in the capital, Kabul, many of them employees of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.

The Taliban was driven from power in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion that followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

With reporting by BBC Persian and Reuters </s> MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — At least 27 members of security forces in northern Afghanistan were killed by the Taliban in a series of coordinated attacks on Tuesday, officials said, and dozens of others were wounded.

The deadliest violence took place in Sar-i-Pul Province, where the Taliban attacked Afghan security forces in three areas, killing a total of 21 people, officials said. The officials did not provide a breakdown of casualties.

Zabihullah Amani, the spokesman for the governor of Sar-i-Pul, said the Taliban had simultaneously attacked the center of Sayad District, security outposts along the highway linking Sar-i-Pul with Jowzjan, and a village with oil wells.

“It was a very strong attack,” Mr. Amani said. “Two security outposts were captured by the Taliban; 25 members of security forces were also wounded during the clashes.” </s> A suicide bomber has rammed a truck into the German consulate in the Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, killing at least two people, officials say.

 Reports described a huge blast at the diplomatic mission followed by gunfire.

 A hospital official said more than 80 people were hurt in the attack, which happened around 23:00 (18:30 GMT).

 The Taliban says it carried out the attack in response to coalition air strikes earlier this month in Kunduz which killed civilians.

 Nato is investigating the incident in the northern city, which happened when Afghan troops surrounded by Taliban militants called in air support.

 Thirty civilians died in the fighting, many of them in the air strikes, local officials said.

 The German diplomatic mission is in a walled compound in the centre of Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province.

 Germany has nearly 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, most of them in Balkh province.

 A Nato spokesman said there was "massive damage" to the consulate. Nato troops were on site and preparing to evacuate its personnel.

 At least one car packed with explosives was rammed into the wall surrounding the compound, the spokesman said. Officials were also investigating whether a second car bomb was involved.

 Reports on social media said helicopters were flying over the compound and ambulances rushing through the city.

 The attack comes amid a worsening security situation in Afghanistan. Taliban militants came close to over-running Kunduz in October before being driven back, according to BBC News.

 ZR </s> Death toll in Afghan base attack rises to 140, officials say

Afghan national Army troops arrive near the site of an ongoing attack on an army headquarters in Mazar-i-Sharif northern Afghanistan April 21, 2017. — Reuters picMAZAR-I-SHARIF, April 22 — As many 140 Afghan soldiers were killed yesterday by Taliban attackers apparently disguised in military uniforms in what would be the deadliest attack ever on an Afghan military base, officials said.

One official in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where the attack occurred, said today at least 140 soldiers were killed and many others wounded. Other officials said the toll was likely to be even higher.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the government has yet to release official casualty figures.

A US official in Washington yesterday had put the toll at more than 50 killed and wounded.

As many as 10 Taliban fighters, dressed in Afghan army uniforms and driving military vehicles, talked their way onto the base and opened fire on soldiers eating dinner and leaving a mosque after Friday prayers, according to officials. The attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and rifles, they said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement today the attack was retribution for the recent killing of several senior Taliban leaders in northern Afghanistan.

The Nato-led military coalition deploys advisers to the base where the attack occurred to train and assist the Afghan forces but coalition officials said no international troops were involved in the attack.

The Western-backed Afghan government is locked in a prolonged war with Taliban insurgents and other militant groups. — Reuters
Taliban insurgents attack an Afghan military base in Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh Province, killing more than 140 soldiers. It is said to be the deadliest attack of its kind (BBC) , (AP) (Reuters)