Taliban insurgents stormed a mud fort being used as a prison in Afghanistan on Monday killing policemen and releasing more than 400 inmates. The Afghan Interior Ministry said almost a third of the freed inmates were charged with national and global security crimes, the other two-thirds with criminal offenses.
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He said 355 of them escaped, including a female detainee, and that a search was underway to recapture them. However Ahmadi added that 20 of the prison’s most unsafe inmates had been transferred to another facility a day earlier after a fight broke out.
Most recently, in April 2011, nearly 500 inmates escaped from Kandahar jail through through a 360m (1,180ft) tunnel dug from outside.
It also raises questions about whether Afghan police are able to effectively secure prisons without the support of worldwide forces.
According to the Ministry of Interior, the early Monday assault began with a suicide attack at the front gate of the detention center, followed by a heavy gun battle between the Taliban terrorists and the Afghan security forces. The prison attack happened at about 2 a.m. local time when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up at the entry gate of prison, allowing others to get inside, according to Tolonews.
The prison break closely follows operations by the Afghan National Army, which has said its forces killed 100 militants over the weekend.
Ahmadi said he believed they helped coordinate the attack.
Taliban speaker Zabiullah Mujahid in an email said 400 inmates were set free on 14 September.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The insurgents are stepping up their summer offensive amid a simmering leadership succession dispute after the confirmation of longtime chief Mullah Omar’s death.
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The BBC, in fact, quoted a Taliban spokesperson saying that newly appointed leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour had not been appointed “by all Taliban”, going against Sharia law. The militants have stepped up their attacks since North Atlantic Treaty Organisation combat forces withdrew at the end of past year.
