Yesterday, when the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that his fighters killed more than 100 soldiers in a complex suicide assault at the Afghan National Army’s 209 Shaheen Corps Headquarters near the provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif, his claim was dismissed as routine inflation of battlefield casualties. Today, Zabihullah’s boast has become reality. Afghan officials are reporting that more than 140 Afghan soldiers are thought to have been killed, and that number may rise. From Reuters:
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.
They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the government has yet to release exact casualty figures.
The defense ministry said more than 100 soldiers were killed or wounded.
The suicide assault was carried out by 10 Taliban fighters dressed as Afghan policemen, according to Reuters.
Yesterday’s raid may have been one of the most effective Taliban attacks on a military installation in Afghanistan since September 2012, when a team of fighters penetrated security at Camp Bastion in Helmand province and destroyed six USMC Harriers and damaged two others, and killed two US marines, including the Harrier squadron commander.
After the Camp Bastion attack, the US military said the Taliban team “appeared to be well equipped, trained and rehearsed.” The same can be said the attack on the Afghan National Army’s 209 Shaheen Corps Headquarters, given the results.
from Long War Journal – FDD's Long War Journal http://ift.tt/2oTwrnE
via Defense News
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