Taliban prisoners in jailbreak
Source: Agencies |
April 26, 2011, Tuesday
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TALIBAN militants dug a lengthy tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 480 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, officials and insurgents said yesterday.
The 1,200-inmate Sarposa Prison had undergone security upgrades and tightened procedures following a brazen 2008 Taliban attack that freed 900 prisoners. Afghan government officials and their NATO backers have regularly said that the prison has vastly improved security since that attack.
But on Sunday night, prisoners streamed out of a tunnel that had been dug into the facility and disappeared into Kandahar city, according to prison supervisor Ghulam Dastagir Mayar. He said the majority of the missing were Taliban militants.
"This is a blow," presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said. "A prison break of this magnitude of course points to a vulnerability." He did not provide details on the incident, saying the investigation had just started.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said insurgents dug the 320-meter tunnel to the prison over five months, bypassing government checkpoints and major roads. The diggers finally poked through to the prison cells on Sunday night, and the inmates were ushered through the tunnel to freedom by three prisoners who had been informed of the plan, Mujahid said in a statement.
He said more than 500 inmates were freed, and that about 100 of them were Taliban commanders. The prisoners were led through the tunnel over four-and-a-half hours, with the final inmates exiting around 3:30am, all without drawing the attention of prison guards, Mujahid said.
Four of those who escaped were provincial-level Taliban commanders, said Qari Yousef Ahmadi, another Taliban spokesman
The highest-profile Taliban inmates would likely not be held at Sarposa. The US keeps detainees it considers a threat at a facility near Bagram Air Base in eastern Afghanistan. Other key Taliban prisoners are held by the Afghan government in a high-security wing of the main prison in Kabul.
A man who Taliban spokesmen said was one of the inmates who helped organize the escape from the inside said a group of inmates obtained copies of the keys to the cells ahead of time.
"There were four or five of us who knew that our friends were digging a tunnel from the outside," said Mohammad Abdullah, who said he had been in Sarposa Prison for two years after being captured in nearby Zhari district with a stockpile of weapons.
Police mounted a search operation yesterday to recapture the prisoners and Omar said 13 had been caught by midday.
An Afghan government official who is familiar with Sarposa Prison said while the external security has been greatly improved, the internal controls were not as strong. He said the Taliban prisoners in Sarposa were very united and would rally together to make demands from their jailers for better treatment or more privileges.
The 1,200-inmate Sarposa Prison had undergone security upgrades and tightened procedures following a brazen 2008 Taliban attack that freed 900 prisoners. Afghan government officials and their NATO backers have regularly said that the prison has vastly improved security since that attack.
But on Sunday night, prisoners streamed out of a tunnel that had been dug into the facility and disappeared into Kandahar city, according to prison supervisor Ghulam Dastagir Mayar. He said the majority of the missing were Taliban militants.
"This is a blow," presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said. "A prison break of this magnitude of course points to a vulnerability." He did not provide details on the incident, saying the investigation had just started.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said insurgents dug the 320-meter tunnel to the prison over five months, bypassing government checkpoints and major roads. The diggers finally poked through to the prison cells on Sunday night, and the inmates were ushered through the tunnel to freedom by three prisoners who had been informed of the plan, Mujahid said in a statement.
He said more than 500 inmates were freed, and that about 100 of them were Taliban commanders. The prisoners were led through the tunnel over four-and-a-half hours, with the final inmates exiting around 3:30am, all without drawing the attention of prison guards, Mujahid said.
Four of those who escaped were provincial-level Taliban commanders, said Qari Yousef Ahmadi, another Taliban spokesman
The highest-profile Taliban inmates would likely not be held at Sarposa. The US keeps detainees it considers a threat at a facility near Bagram Air Base in eastern Afghanistan. Other key Taliban prisoners are held by the Afghan government in a high-security wing of the main prison in Kabul.
A man who Taliban spokesmen said was one of the inmates who helped organize the escape from the inside said a group of inmates obtained copies of the keys to the cells ahead of time.
"There were four or five of us who knew that our friends were digging a tunnel from the outside," said Mohammad Abdullah, who said he had been in Sarposa Prison for two years after being captured in nearby Zhari district with a stockpile of weapons.
Police mounted a search operation yesterday to recapture the prisoners and Omar said 13 had been caught by midday.
An Afghan government official who is familiar with Sarposa Prison said while the external security has been greatly improved, the internal controls were not as strong. He said the Taliban prisoners in Sarposa were very united and would rally together to make demands from their jailers for better treatment or more privileges.
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