A Taliban commando carried out an attack on a military base in northern Afghanistan at the time of the prayer, Friday, April 21. The report is still provisional, more than a hundred deaths and injuries, mainly young recruits undergoing training.
In a statement released on Saturday morning (April 22nd), the Ministry of Defense reported “more than 100 soldiers killed and wounded”, thus delivering the first official report since the end of the assault, the day before the evening.
But an Afghan officer reported inside the attacked base, that of the 209th Corps on the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of the north, reported on Saturday morning a record of “150 killed and dozens of wounded”, After an assault by ten heavily armed assailants for more than five hours.
If confirmed, it would make this the most lethal attack carried out in Afghanistan, against civilians or soldiers.
“The Taliban insurgents launched a coordinated attack against the military base where the majority of soldiers were gathered for prayer, resulting in a total of more than 100 deaths and injuries among the armed forces,” the ministry said.
The Taliban fighting the government and demanding the departure of all foreign troops from Afghanistan quickly claimed the operation in a statement Friday, claiming to have made “dozens of deaths.”