Mourning declared after deadly Taliban attack

MAZAR-I-SHARIF/KABUL: 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 defence ministry has said more than 100 died or were injured in Friday’s attack in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least 140 soldiers were killed and many 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 flags be flown at half mast yesterday 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.

He condemned the attack as “cowardly” and the work of “infidels”. They used rocket-propelled grenades and rifles, and several detonated suicide vests.

Witnesses described the confusion as soldiers were uncertain about the attackers’ identity. “It was chaotic. 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 spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the attack on the base was retribution for the recent killing of several senior Taliban leaders in northern Afghanistan.

The US military command in Kabul said an American air strike had killed a commander, Quari Tayib, and eight other Taliban members 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 sympathisers who had infiltrated the army and served for some time, Mujahid said. – Reuters