The inmates escaped from Sarposa prison through a
more than 1,000-foot-long tunnel dug by insurgents during the last five
months, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, adding that the
inmates planned the tunnel’s course to avoid police checkpoints and
major roads. They literally undercut the prison’s main line of
above-ground defense, including guard towers at each corner, concrete
barriers and razor wire and multiple entry checkpoints.
After the tunnel was completed about
three inmates who knew about the plan freed prisoners from their locked
cells and spent 4 1/2 hours leading them through the tunnel to waiting
vehicles that escorted them to “secure destinations,” Mujahid said. It
was not immediately clear how the inmates obtained keys to the cells.
Taliban forces near the prison were also prepared to
stage an attack, Mujahid said, but the “need did not arise due to the
inaction shown by the enemy.”
Mujahid claimed that despite security cameras in and
around the prison, Afghan guards and NATO forces at the prison did not
notice the escape until hours after it was completed.
Maj.
Afghan officials who run the prison and were
managing the investigation into the prison break reported that 475
inmates had escaped, while the Taliban claimed there were 541 escapees.
ministry of justice was responsible for securing the prison, which
houses 1,200 inmates. Afghan security forces were investigating what
went wrong and were searching for escapees early Monday, officials said.
“Huge operations have been launched inside and on the outskirts of
Wesa told The Associated Press that two of the
escapees were shot and killed by police as they fled capture Monday and
that 26 others had been caught.
He said their investigation found the tunnel was started near a house northeast of
prison in the Sarfooza area of the city and ended at the entrance of
the prison’s political cell block. All but one of the escapees were
considered political prisoners, he said.
A spokesman for President
“This is a blow. It is something that shouldn’t have happened,” spokesman
“A prison break of this magnitude of course points
to vulnerability … we have loopholes,” he said, promising Afghan
officials will investigate and release more details in coming days
about how the escape occurred.
province, about 12 percent of the total, according to icasualties.org.
Since the conflict began, there have been 344 NATO casualties in the
province, second only to the other southern province of Helmand,
according to the website.
The Taliban spokesman claimed that 106 of the
escapees were “important commanders” of the Taliban. James said it was
unclear whether the escapees were insurgent leaders likely to mount
attacks on coalition troops.
“Any escaped prisoners are always a concern,” James
said, “It’s too early to say whether those prisoners pose a particular
threat to (NATO) forces.”
Sarposa has not been known to house the most
dangerous Taliban fighters. The U.S. keeps Taliban detainees it
considers a threat at a detention center outside
But the prison does have a troubled security record that may have made it a soft target for the Taliban. In
In that escape, an enormous truck bomb blew open the
front gate and a suicide bomber struck the back of the facility. In the
fierce battle that ensued, militants also fired rockets at the prison.
In
an attempt to free Taliban militants from the prison, four suicide
bombers struck nearby, killing more than 30 people.
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