Reporting from outside the Afghan National Army’s 209 Shaheen Corps Headquarters in Balkh province, TOLOnews Sharif Amiry said a source from inside the base said 10 insurgents, including three suicide bombers, carried out Friday’s deadly attack.

According to the source one suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside the mosque, one inside the mosque and the third close to the canteen.

He said all insurgents had been wearing army uniforms.

The source also said that one of the insurgents ordered a large number of soldiers into the canteen. After closing the door he opened fire on them.

He also said that most of the soldiers in the canteen and in the mosque had been unarmed at the time of the attack.

Officials have however still not given the exact number of soldiers killed in Friday’s incident but leaked reports indicate the death toll is at least 135.

Amiry also reported that dozens of bodies of fallen soldiers were handed over to family members on Saturday while many more were airlifted by helicopter to various provinces.

He said helicopters ferried bodies to Kabul, Kunduz, Badakhshan and Takhar provinces.

Again officials would not disclose how many bodies had been flown out of the base or handed over to families that had gathered outside the camp on Saturday.

Amiry said the process was slow and that it had continued throughout the day.

He also reported that one official from inside the base said a number of bodies had been badly burned in the attack which was slowing down the identification process.

The ten insurgents stormed the base on Friday afternoon at about 1.30pm. They had been driving official army vehicles and managed to penetrate multiple layers of security barriers.

The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for the incident.

The attack comes just days after former president Hamid Karzai spoke out in support of the Taliban and said “the Taliban is a major reality in today’s Afghanistan.”

While defending Russia’s stance on talks it had with the insurgent group he likened the Taliban to a “force” and said countries have no option but to talk to them.

Meanwhile, Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor strongly condemned the attack and said President Ashraf Ghani held an emergency meeting at the base on Saturday afternoon. He also said he had formed a task team to probe the incident.

Noor said the team would investigate claims that insurgents had received help from inside the base and that it had been planned outside the country.

Noor called on all security agencies to take the necessary precautions to prevent a repeat of such a deadly attack.

Meanwhile, Ghani ordered a national day of mourning Sunday and said a prayer service would be held at the presidential palace in honor of the soldiers killed.

He also ordered all Afghan flags to be flown at half-mast on Sunday.