Death toll in Afghan base attack rises to 140, officials say

A Defense Ministry spokesman said that only 100 were confirmed dead, however. Ghani held an emergency meeting with senior security officials and called for a "serious" investigation into the attack.

The attack lasted six hours.

Atiqullah Amarkhail, an Afghan military analyst and retired general, said Saturday that Afghan forces must develop a counter-strategy for such attacks.

He could not say whether any coalition forces were at the base, but said there were no coalition casualties. The sources are officials who requested anonymity so as not to interfere with the Ministry of Defense or Ministry of Interior, which are responsible for reporting official tolls.

No worldwide troops were caught up in the attack, coalition officials said.

Former President Hamid Karzai tweeted: "I condemn in strongest terms the terrorist attack on our military base in Mazar-e-Sharif that killed and wounded many of our courageous soldiers".

The US has around 8,400 troops in the country with about another 5,000 from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies assisting a much larger Afghan force in the war against the Taliban and other Islamist militants.

Thousands of foreign troops are still in Afghanistan, but apparently maintaining security remains an issue amid nearly frequent incidents of violence across the country.

Gen. John Nicholson, the top USA commander in Afghanistan, praised Afghan commandos for bringing an "atrocity to an end".

German military says no German or worldwide troops were involved in the attack.

The attack occurred near a mosque and dinning facility on the base as soldiers were leaving Friday prayers.

At the same time, the Afghan forces eliminated several Taliban fighters, Col. John Thomas added.

German forces have long led the worldwide mission in northern Afghanistan.

"The attackers were heavily armed with suicide vests and automatic weapons, trying to cause as much damage as they can".

Friday's insurgent assault was the deadliest since April 2016, when Taliban suicide bombers stormed an office of the Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul, killing at least 60 people. Doctors and soldiers were among the victims.

Thomas said Uzbeki, killed in the eastern Syria city of Mayadin about 27 miles east of Deir ez-Zor, was a close associate of the so-called caliph of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.