Story highlights A Taliban leader is killed in a US airstrike, US forces say

The attack happened during Friday prayers, the Afghan military says

The army base is near Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan

(CNN) The Taliban's deadly raid Friday on a northern army base that killed or wounded more than 100 people was revenge for the deaths of two of its officials in the region, a spokesman for the group told CNN.

As many as 140 people may have been killed in the attack, sources close to the situation told CNN. 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.

Zabiullah Mujahid told CNN in an email Saturday that the attack was undertaken because pro-Afghan government forces killed two Taliban shadow governors in the northern provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan.

The assault began as soldiers were observing Friday prayers at Camp Shaheen near Mazar-e Sharif , one of the nation's most populated and developed cities, the Afghan military said. The city is in Balkh province and the base is the headquarters of the 209th Shaheen Corps.

Pres @ashrafghani visited injured soldiers & paid tribute to the martyrs of the ANA 209th corps pic.twitter.com/ji5Ng4cRib — ارگ (@ARG_AFG) April 22, 2017

Dawlat Waziri, an Afghan Ministry of Defense spokesman, declined to give a more precise accounting of dead and wounded but said one would be released later.

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