Taliban Fighters Flee After Jail Break . PHOTOS of Sarposa prison before and after the Taliban suicide truck bomb attack. Saturday June 14, 2008. Up to 1,000 prisoners, including 400 Taliban militants, are on the run following breakout from jail. (click images for video).Fifteen security staff were reported dead after a well-planned attack on Sarposa Prison in Kandahar involving a truck and car suicide bombers and rocket explosions. Sky's Andrew Wilson, reporting from Camp Bastion in Helmand province, says it is further evidence of a major shift in tactics by the insurgents' commanders.
See BBC News video here, on the ground aftermath of the huge explosion.
The attack began with the blowing of the jail's entrance by a suicide bomber blowing up a lorry (GAS TANKER TRUCK). Several dozen Taliban, armed with rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles then stormed the mud-built compound and started to free the prisoners which apart from militants included women and suspected criminals (A SECOND SUICIDE BOMBER HIT THE BACK OF THE MUD WALL PRISON TO MAKE AN ESCAPE ROUTE).
The attack began with the blowing of the jail's entrance by a suicide bomber blowing up a lorry (GAS TANKER TRUCK). Several dozen Taliban, armed with rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles then stormed the mud-built compound and started to free the prisoners which apart from militants included women and suspected criminals (A SECOND SUICIDE BOMBER HIT THE BACK OF THE MUD WALL PRISON TO MAKE AN ESCAPE ROUTE).
Authorities have also launched a probe to find out if any officials were involved in the commando-style attack by several dozen Taliban fighters under darkness. Justice minister Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai said none of the prisoners had been re-arrested. "Government officials are busy finding out what really happened. We are trying to find out that if there was any inside help," Mr Hashimzai.
"It was a very unprecedented attack and together with foreign forces, an operation has been launched to track down and arrest the prisoners." Some high ranking Taliban field commanders were also among those who have managed to escape.
The US military has handed over an unspecified number of suspected Taliban fighters to Afghan custody under a programme agreed last year to transfer all Afghan prisoners from American-run jails. ALSO... A roadside bomb has killed four American troops in Kabul. A US military spokesman said they were helping train Afghan police.
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