News / International
Mass Taliban jailbreak
26 Apr 2011 at 11:40hrs | Views
Hundreds of prisoners escaped from a prison in Afghanistan's south yesterday through a tunnel dug by Taliban insurgents, officials said.
The mass escape was described as a "disaster" for the government and a setback for foreign forces planning to start a gradual withdrawal within months.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's chief spokesman said the security breakdown, in which many Taliban commanders were said to have escaped, exposed serious vulnerabilities in the Afghan government.
"This is a blow, it is something that should not have happened . We are looking into finding out . what exactly happened and what is being done to compensate for [it]," spokesman Waheed Omer said.
"It shows a great vulnerability in the Afghan government."
Tooryalai Wesa, governor of the volatile southern Kandahar province, said that 478 prisoners escaped because of the negligence of Afghan security forces at the province's main jail.
He said the start of the tunnel had been traced to a house near the prison.
General Ghulam Dastgir, the prison's governor, said the tunnelhad been lined with explosives by the insurgents after the escape. "Everybody went out through the tunnel. The insurgents worked on it for some seven months," Dastgir said.
The Taliban said that 541 prisoners escaped through a tunnel which took months to construct.
The mass escape was described as a "disaster" for the government and a setback for foreign forces planning to start a gradual withdrawal within months.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's chief spokesman said the security breakdown, in which many Taliban commanders were said to have escaped, exposed serious vulnerabilities in the Afghan government.
"This is a blow, it is something that should not have happened . We are looking into finding out . what exactly happened and what is being done to compensate for [it]," spokesman Waheed Omer said.
Tooryalai Wesa, governor of the volatile southern Kandahar province, said that 478 prisoners escaped because of the negligence of Afghan security forces at the province's main jail.
He said the start of the tunnel had been traced to a house near the prison.
General Ghulam Dastgir, the prison's governor, said the tunnelhad been lined with explosives by the insurgents after the escape. "Everybody went out through the tunnel. The insurgents worked on it for some seven months," Dastgir said.
The Taliban said that 541 prisoners escaped through a tunnel which took months to construct.
Source - Reuters
