The attack occurred near a mosque on the base in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, as soldiers were leaving Friday prayers, said army spokesman Nasratullah Jamshidi.
Six attackers in two military vehicles told guards at the base gates that they were carrying wounded soldiers and urgently needed to get in, he said.
After killing at least eight soldiers and wounding 11 others with rocket-propelled grenades and guns, one attacker was killed and the other five arrested,
Jamshidi said.
The Western-backed Afghan government is locked in a prolonged war with Taliban insurgents as well as other militant groups.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the fighters set off an explosion, allowing suicide bombers armed with small arms to breach the base.
“Our fighters have inflicted heavy casualties on the afghan army stationed there,” he said.
Other army officials confirmed that the attackers entered the base in disguise.
The base is the headquarters for the afghan National Army’s 209th Corps, which covers most of northern Afghanistan, including Kunduz province where there has been heavy fighting.
A number of German and other foreign soldiers are based in Mazar-i-Sharif, including about 70 who advise the corps headquarters as part of a Nato-led multinational mission to advise and train the Afghan security forces.
German military says no German or international troops were involved in the attack.
“To our knowledge, no Germans were affected. Nor were any other soldiers in the multinational force harmed,” said a spokesman for the German
Operations Command.
The Nato command in Kabul called the attack “murderous and reprehensible”.
The last major attack against a military site dates back to early March, a co-ordinated hours-long assault on the country’s main military hospital in Kabul.
Officials said around 50 people were killed, though credible sources said it was more than double that.
That operation was claimed by the Islamic State group.
