Over 470 Taliban fighters escape from southern Afghanistan jail
Hashim Shukoor - McClatchy Newspapers Hundreds of prisoners — mostly Taliban fighters — fled from the central jail in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar in a major security breach on Monday, officials said.
"The Taliban tunneled into the political block of Kandahar's main jail from the southwest part, and managed to free about 475 prisoners, mostly insurgents fighters and 8 of whom were re-arrested," Gen.Ghulam Dastagir Mayar, the chief for the prison, said.
The tunnel was dug out within 6 months, starting from a house where suicide vests were found, Gen.Mayar said.
Taliban militants took the credit for the jailbreak, while giving a different account for the detainees who fled, and called it a "successful operation." "Last night. 541 prisoners including 106 important commanders were freed via a tunnel, 360 meter long and 2.5 meter wide," Qari Yosuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman speaking via telephone from an unknown location, told McClatchy.