Taliban kill unarmed Afghan soldiers
Militants slaughter at least 140 in single deadliest attack on Afghanistan military base
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN— They looked like Afghan army soldiers returning from the front lines, carrying the bodies of wounded comrades as part of the ruse.
Dressed in military uniforms, a squad of10 Taliban militants drove in two army Ford Ranger trucks past seven checkpoints. They arrived inside northern Afghanistan’s largest military installation just as hundreds, maybe thousands, of unarmed soldiers were emerging from Friday prayers and preparing for lunch.
For the next five hours, the militants went on a rampage, killing at least 140 soldiers and officers in what is emerging as the single deadliest known attack on an Afghan military base in the 16-year war. Some assailants blew themselves up among the soldiers fleeing, according to survivors, witnesses and officials.
“Today, there was even a shortage of coffins,” said Ibrahim Khairandish, a member of the provincial council in Balkh province, where the attack took place. Other officials feared that the death toll could exceed 200.
Over the past two years, Taliban fighters have gained more territory in the countryside and now threaten several cities. Afghanistan’s forces, suffering enormous casualties and a leadership marred by indecision and corruption, have struggled to put up a defence. More than 6,700 members of the Afghan security forces lost their lives in 2016, a record high.
In a new sign of how badly the Afghan military is faltering, the commander of the NATO coalition forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John W. Nicholson, has requested a few thousand additional U.S. soldiers to assist in training Afghan recruits.
“The enemy has the strength — they have more people in their units now — and the speed of action,” said Rahmatullah Nabil, former head of the Afghan intelligence service.
He said mistrust between the soldiers and their commanders had made many more vulnerable to Taliban infiltration and recruitment.
The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the army base attack, releasing the names and a picture of 10 men dressed in military uniforms, replete with hard helmets and knee pads, who it said had taken part.
Details were still emerging Saturday, but several officials said the death toll was frighteningly high. Khairandish of the Balkh provincial council said 140 were killed. One Balkh official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, said it was likely that around 200 soldiers had been killed. A western military official in Kabul, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because of a policy against commenting on Afghan security forces’ casualty figures, put the death toll at more than 100.