Insurgents, as well as rebellious Afghan Army officers infiltrated and occupied the fortress.

They were met by ruthless air bombardment by the Khalq government's MiG aircraft and artillery tank attacks.

[1][2] The uprising was commanded by Faiz Ahmad of the Marxist (but anti-Khalq) Revolutionary Group of the Peoples of Afghanistan (RGPA) and engineered by the Afghanistan Mujahedin Freedom Fighters Front (AMFF), a united front of anti-government Maoist and moderate Islamist groups.

[4] After the five hour battle, tens of Maoist cadres were killed or arrested, and the government swiftly wrested back control of the fort.

Government trucks with mounted loudspeakers drove around Kabul announcing that the military action was retaliation of another international imperialist plot against the "people's regime".