The Taliban killed more than 100 members of the Afghan security forces inside a military compound in central Maidan Wardak province on Monday, a senior defence official said.
“We have information that 126 people have been killed in the explosion inside the military training centre, eight special commandos are among the dead,” said a senior official in the Defence Ministry in Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said the assault began on Monday morning when the attackers rammed a car full explosives through a military check point and detonated the vehicle inside the campus of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) forces training centre in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Maidan Wardak province.
Two gunmen entered the campus right after the explosion and shot at many Afghan soldiers before being gunned down during the clashes.
Defence Ministry officials said the Taliban had used U.S.-made armoured Humvee vehicles captured from Afghan forces as a car bomb in order to breach the military fortifications.
A second source residing in Maidan Wardak province said more than 100 members of National Directorate of Security (NDS) were killed in the complex attack.
Sharif Hotak, a member of the provincial council in Maidan Wardak said he saw bodies of 35 Afghan forces in the hospital.
President Ashraf Ghani's office in a statement said the ”enemies of the country” had carried out an attack against NDS personnel. “They killed and wounded a number of our beloved and honest sons.”