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| Afghan soldiers stand guard at the gate of a military compound after an attack by gunmen in Mazar-e- Sharif province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, April 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Mirwais Najand) |
KABUL, Afghanistan - Gunmen wearing army uniforms stormed a military compound in the Balkh province, killing or wounding more than 100 army personnel, an Afghan official said Saturday.
Daulat Waziri, spokesman for the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense, said the attack a day earlier on a compound of the 209th Corps of the Afghan National Army left dozens of soldiers and other personnel dead or wounded.
Gunmen entered the compound with a military vehicle and began shooting at soldiers as they prayed in a mosque, he said.
Waziri said there were 10 attackers. Two carried out suicide attacks and eight other attackers were killed in the battle.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in an email sent to media.
The 209th corps is located in the Dihdadi district of Balkh is one of seven corps of the country's Ministry of Defense, which is responsible for providing security for Afghanistan's northern and northeastern provinces.
