Taliban attack Afghan base; more than 100 dead or wounded
Security personnel stand guard Friday near the site of an attack on an Afghan base near Mazar-e Sharif.
Story highlights
- A Taliban leader is killed in a US airstrike, US forces say
- The attack happened during Friday prayers, the Afghan military says
- The army base is near Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan
(CNN)The
Taliban's deadly raid Friday on a northern army base that killed or
wounded more than 100 people was revenge for the deaths of two of its
officials in the region, a spokesman for the group told CNN.
Zabiullah
Mujahid told CNN in an email Saturday that the attack was undertaken
because pro-Afghan government forces killed two Taliban shadow governors
in the northern provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan.
The assault began as soldiers were observing Friday prayers at Camp Shaheen near Mazar-e Sharif,
one of the nation's most populated and developed cities, the Afghan
military said. The city is in Balkh province and the base is the
headquarters of the 209th Shaheen Corps.
Dawlat Waziri, an Afghan
Ministry of Defense spokesman, declined to give a more precise
accounting of dead and wounded but said one would be released later.
Taliban
fighters dressed in military uniforms raided the army base in northern
Afghanistan, raking it with gunfire in an hours-long attack that left
more than 100 soldiers dead or wounded, officials said.
As many as 140 people may
have been killed in the attack, sources close to the situation told CNN.
The sources are officials who requested anonymity so as not to
interfere with the Ministry of Defense or Ministry of Interior, which
are responsible for reporting official tolls.
The
uniformed attackers entered the base in vehicles and opened fire,
Afghan army spokesman Abdul Qahar Araam said. The gunfire was followed
by an explosion at one of the base's gates.
ATTACK ON AFGHAN BASE
50 km
30 mi
The attack lasted six hours. By the end, at least five attackers were killed and one was arrested, Araam said.
Afghan
President Ashraf Ghani has declared Sunday to be a national day of
mourning in remembrance of the Afghan forces killed on the base. The
Afghan national flag will be flown at half-staff in Afghanistan and its
missions.
Breaking a 'stalemate'
The massive attack is a setback for the Afghan government and its coalition allies faced with a persistent Taliban insurgency and the presence of ISIS and other terrorist groups.
US troops have been fighting there for nearly 16 years against a resilient Taliban.
In February, Gen. John Nicholson,
commander of US forces in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services
Committee that leadership assesses "the current security situation in
Afghanistan as a stalemate."
"We remain concerned about multiple critical factors," he said.
He
cited the government's stability; Afghan military casualties; the
influence of Pakistan, Russia and Iran; "the convergence" of various
terror groups; the narcotics trade and corruption.
There
are 8,400 US troops in Afghanistan and 6,000 troops from NATO and
allied counties. Nicholson said the coalition faces "a shortfall of a
few thousand troops" to break the "stalemate."
The Taliban action comes more than a week after the US military dropped America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb on ISIS targets in Afghanistan, killing 94 ISIS fighters.
ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack last month on Kabul's heavily fortified diplomatic quarter.
National security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster recently visited Afghanistan as Washington considers a full "strategy review." of policy toward that country.
"In
recent years, at a period of our maximum effort, we didn't have as
reliable a partner in the Afghan government as we would've liked,"
McMaster said. "Now we have a much more reliable Afghan partner and we
have reduced considerably the degree and scope of our effort."
Taliban leader killed in Kunduz
US
forces in Afghanistan on Saturday announced another incident in the
northern part of the country, saying Taliban leader Quari Tayib was
killed in an airstrike in Kunduz province.
The US military said Tayib was once known as the Taliban shadow governor of neighboring Takhar province.
The strike was part of ongoing efforts to deny Taliban freedom of movement in the area, the military said.
Tayib
had been a target of interest since 2011 and was directly responsible
for the deaths of US service members in Afghanistan, the military said.
A compound owned by Tayib was targeted in the strike, which also killed eight other Taliban fighters.
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