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Jail Break - Afghan Style
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Hundreds of pro-Taliban militants spilled freely into the streets of Kandahar city after a brazen insurgent attack Friday night blew down the walls of a prison involved in Canada's detainee scandal.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the multi-pronged assault that saw Sarposa prison pounded with an explosives-laden tanker truck, rockets and suicide bombers.
Canadian troops rushed across town from their base at Kandahar Airfield to secure the area around the prison, where the inmate population included insurgents captured by NATO soldiers.
"We have troops on the scene right now," Canadian military spokesman Maj. Jay Janzen told reporters at Kandahar Airfield, the main NATO base in the region.
"We have established a security perimeter in the vicinity of the prison."
Just months ago, the Canadian government resumed prisoner-transfers after suspending them because of documented detainee abuse by Afghan officials.
Inmates at Sarposa described having been whipped, choked, and electrocuted in separate detention facilities run by Afghanistan's feared intelligence police.
The facility is now said to be virtually empty after the attack, and international forces suddenly found themselves scouring the area for inmates they had captured earlier.
Early Saturday, police official Mohammad Jamal Khan said more than 600 prisoners escaped. He said nine police were killed in the attack and that 12 were wounded. Eight prisoners were also killed during the assault, he said. More than 30 nearby shops were damaged.
The Taliban said 30 insurgents on motorbikes and two suicide bombers attacked the prison, used to hold both common criminals and Taliban militants.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press that militants had been planning the assault for the last two month "to release our Taliban friends."
"Today we succeeded," he said. The escaped prisoners "are safe in town and they are going to their homes."
It is a deep blow to the international coalition which has been engaged in fierce battles with insurgents in the chaotic rural areas of Kandahar province.
While Canadian soldiers have been engaged in frequent firefights in the outlying areas, Kandahar city had been considered a relatively safe haven. It was unclear how many of the escaped prisoners had taken refuge in the city and how many had fled to surrounding areas.
The attack raised another question for NATO: with Sarposa now in partial ruins, what will Canada and other countries do with the insurgents they capture?
Around the time of the attack, Kandahar Airfield was abuzz with the cheers of European soldiers taking in their continent's soccer championship on giant-screen TVs around the base.
The revelry quickly gave way to the whir of helicopters swirling overhead and tanks rumbling into the city.
Troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, are working with Afghan government forces to deal with the attack. Canada has about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of ISAF.
Janzen could not say how many insurgents were on the loose.
However, both the Taliban and Afghan officials declared hundreds of inmates had escaped and several police officers had been killed.
The attack began when a tanker truck full of explosives detonated at the jail's main gate, said Abdul Qabir, the prison chief. Shortly after that, a suicide bomber on foot blasted a hole in the back of the prison.
Qabir said some prisoners stayed behind while hundreds of others escaped. However, Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai and the president of Kandahar's provincial council, said all prisoners had escaped. Neither official provided an exact figure.
"There is no one left," Karzai said.
Kandahar residents said loud booms rattled the city for some 30 minutes starting around 9:30 p.m. Rocket fire lasted into early Saturday.
The tanker explosion wiped out the main gate and an outpost full of police, killing all of them, Qabir said. He couldn't say how many police officers were killed.
Last month, some 200 Taliban suspects held at the Kandahar prison ended a weeklong hunger strike after a parliamentary delegation promised their cases would be reviewed.
Legislator Habibullah Jan said some of the hunger strikers had been held without trial for more than two years. Others were given lengthy prison sentences after short trials.
Jan said 47 of the prisoners had stitched their mouths shut during the hunger strike in May.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the multi-pronged assault that saw Sarposa prison pounded with an explosives-laden tanker truck, rockets and suicide bombers.
Canadian troops rushed across town from their base at Kandahar Airfield to secure the area around the prison, where the inmate population included insurgents captured by NATO soldiers.
"We have troops on the scene right now," Canadian military spokesman Maj. Jay Janzen told reporters at Kandahar Airfield, the main NATO base in the region.
"We have established a security perimeter in the vicinity of the prison."
Just months ago, the Canadian government resumed prisoner-transfers after suspending them because of documented detainee abuse by Afghan officials.
Inmates at Sarposa described having been whipped, choked, and electrocuted in separate detention facilities run by Afghanistan's feared intelligence police.
The facility is now said to be virtually empty after the attack, and international forces suddenly found themselves scouring the area for inmates they had captured earlier.
Early Saturday, police official Mohammad Jamal Khan said more than 600 prisoners escaped. He said nine police were killed in the attack and that 12 were wounded. Eight prisoners were also killed during the assault, he said. More than 30 nearby shops were damaged.
The Taliban said 30 insurgents on motorbikes and two suicide bombers attacked the prison, used to hold both common criminals and Taliban militants.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press that militants had been planning the assault for the last two month "to release our Taliban friends."
"Today we succeeded," he said. The escaped prisoners "are safe in town and they are going to their homes."
It is a deep blow to the international coalition which has been engaged in fierce battles with insurgents in the chaotic rural areas of Kandahar province.
While Canadian soldiers have been engaged in frequent firefights in the outlying areas, Kandahar city had been considered a relatively safe haven. It was unclear how many of the escaped prisoners had taken refuge in the city and how many had fled to surrounding areas.
The attack raised another question for NATO: with Sarposa now in partial ruins, what will Canada and other countries do with the insurgents they capture?
Around the time of the attack, Kandahar Airfield was abuzz with the cheers of European soldiers taking in their continent's soccer championship on giant-screen TVs around the base.
The revelry quickly gave way to the whir of helicopters swirling overhead and tanks rumbling into the city.
Troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, are working with Afghan government forces to deal with the attack. Canada has about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of ISAF.
Janzen could not say how many insurgents were on the loose.
However, both the Taliban and Afghan officials declared hundreds of inmates had escaped and several police officers had been killed.
The attack began when a tanker truck full of explosives detonated at the jail's main gate, said Abdul Qabir, the prison chief. Shortly after that, a suicide bomber on foot blasted a hole in the back of the prison.
Qabir said some prisoners stayed behind while hundreds of others escaped. However, Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai and the president of Kandahar's provincial council, said all prisoners had escaped. Neither official provided an exact figure.
"There is no one left," Karzai said.
Kandahar residents said loud booms rattled the city for some 30 minutes starting around 9:30 p.m. Rocket fire lasted into early Saturday.
The tanker explosion wiped out the main gate and an outpost full of police, killing all of them, Qabir said. He couldn't say how many police officers were killed.
Last month, some 200 Taliban suspects held at the Kandahar prison ended a weeklong hunger strike after a parliamentary delegation promised their cases would be reviewed.
Legislator Habibullah Jan said some of the hunger strikers had been held without trial for more than two years. Others were given lengthy prison sentences after short trials.
Jan said 47 of the prisoners had stitched their mouths shut during the hunger strike in May.
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