Casualty toll exceeds 100 in Taliban attack on army base

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/taliban-militants-kill-dozens-of-afghan-troops-in-brazen-attack-on-army-base/2017/04/21/eb7a21c4-26c7-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.1b928d767643

On Friday, a group from the Taliban went into an army base in Afghanistan in the most secure northern Balkh province.  More than 100 military personnel were wounded or killed.  How the Taliban members made it into the army base is unclear.  Some reports claim that they were able to enter by joining a convoy of military vehicles that were returning to base from a province near by.  An army spokesman for the region, however, said that one of the bombers detonated a vehicle filled with explosives at the main entrance of the base, which then allowed the other members to gain entrance as well.  From there, the members went to the dining facility and a mosque and opened fire on anyone they saw there.  A Taliban spokesman, however, denied reports that any attacks were made on those near the mosque and that attacks were insteaded directed at those in their rooms or barracks.  The attack finally ended after about six hours of gun battle.

Shannon McDonald