Afghanistan’s defence minister and its Army chief on Monday resigned over the deadly Taliban attack on a military base in the northern province of Balkh on Friday, reported AFP. The country observed a national day of mourning on Sunday for the more than 100 soldiers who were killed in the attack.

“Defence Minister Abdullah Habibi and Army Chief of Staff Qadam Shah Shahim stepped down with immediate effect,” the presidential palace announced on Twitter. This comes after the government sacked 12 Army officers for negligence in connection with the incident.

The exact toll in the attack has yet to be known. While the Defence Ministry said that at least 100 soldiers were killed or injured in the incident, local media reported that the attack had claimed at least 140 lives, reported Al Jazeera.

The government had ordered an investigation into the incident. “Investigations must be acceptable to the nation and the president,”said President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesperson Shah Hussain Murtazawi. “At this moment, the people of Afghanistan need to unite like a strong fist.”

At least 10 insurgents, dressed in military attire, had targeted soldiers who had gone to a mosque for Friday prayers in Mazar-e-Sharif. The seige continued for hours during which two suicide bombers blew themselves up, and seven others were killed by security forces. The security personnel also managed to detain a few militants, however, the exact number has yet to be made public.

The deadly strike comes only eight days after the United States dropped the “mother of all bombs” on suspected Islamic State fighters in eastern Afghanistan. On March 8, Islamic State group militants killed around 50 people in an attack in Kabul’s Sardar Daud Khan hospital, which is the country’s largest military hospital.