Insurgents tunnel into Afghanistan jail and free hundreds of Taliban commanders in blow to allied forces

Insurgents tunnel into Afghanistan jail and free hundreds of Taliban commanders in blow to allied forces

 

• 1,000ft tunnel constructed over more than five months
  
• Prisoners took more than four-and-a-half hours to escape
  
• They had obtained copies of cell keys ahead of breakout
  
• Fleet of cars met them when they emerged from tunnel
  

The Taliban has staged a jail-break from a high security prison in Afghanistan, freeing 541 prisoners through a network of tunnels that took five months to dig.

In scenes reminiscent of war film The Great Escape, insurgents constructed a 1,050-foot (320m) route into Sarposa Prison, in Kandahar.

Diggers finally broke through into the site last night and hundreds of prisoners, including around 100 Taliban commanders - streamed through the tunnel to freedom over four-and-a-half hours.

They were met by a fleet of cars which whisked them away to freedom. The breakout was completed at around 3.30am.

Hole in the floor: Afghan jailer Ghulam Dastager Mayaar points to the tunnel through which 500 prisoners escaped from Kandahar jail

 

 

Long crawl to freedom: The tunnel was dug under the jail wall and a number of security posts

Mohammad Abdullah, who claims to be one of the prisoners who helped organise the escape, said  that a group of inmates had obtained copies of the cell keys and let people out.

'There were four or five of us who knew that our friends were digging a tunnel from the outside,' he said.

'Some of our friends helped us by providing copies of the keys. When the time came at night, we managed to open the doors for friends who were in other rooms.'

Abdullah, who said he had been in the prison for two years after being captured with a stockpile of weapons, said inmates were woken four or five at a time to get them out quietly.

 A statement from insurgents said: 'Mujahideen started digging a 320-metre tunnel to the prison from the south side, which was completed after a five-month period, bypassing enemy check posts and (the) Kandahar-Kabul main highway leading directly to the political prison.'

Four of the insurgents who escaped were provincial-level commanders, according to the Taliban.

The escape is a huge embarrassment for Afghan security forces, who are in charge of the jail.

Sarposa, which houses 1,200 inmates, has undergone security upgrades and tightened procedures following a 2008 Taliban attack that freed 900 prisoners.

Afghan government officials and their NATO backers have regularly said that the prison has vastly improved security since that attack.

But their words have been proved baseless after the brazen escape which took place under the noses of guards.

Basic: A policeman stands guard at the entrance of the Political Prisoner's section of the jail which is meant to be high security

The escape is also a serious setback for U.S. forces who hoped to start withdrawing from parts of the country in the coming months.

Tooryalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar province, said the prisoners managed to escape due to 'negligence' of Afghan security forces.

He said the start of the tunnel had been traced to a house near the prison and that some escapees had already been recaptured.

Sarposa, which is supposed to be one of the country's most secure, sits on the outskirts of Kandahar city and holds both captured insurgents and criminals.

On guard: The prisoners easily slipped past Afghan soldiers and had even obtained copies of keys to cells

Great escape: Afghan policemen and NATO forces stand guard next to Kandahar jail after hundreds of Taliban prisoners escaped through a tunnel on Sunday night

 

There are guard towers at each corner of the prison compound, which is illuminated at night and protected by a ring of concrete barriers. The entrance can only be reached by passing through multiple checkpoints and gates.

An Afghan government official who is familiar with Sarposa Prison said that while the external security has been greatly improved, the internal controls were not as strong.

 He said the Taliban prisoners in Sarposa were very united and would rally together to make demands from their jailers for better treatment or more privileges.

Sarposa does not house the highest-profile Taliban inmates most of whom are incarcerated at the U.S. controlled  Bagram Air Base in eastern Afghanistan.

Other key insurgents are held by the Afghan government in a high-security wing of the main prison in Kabul.

Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough in a scene from The Great Escape: The Afghan jail breakout also involved a tunnel and months of work

The jailbreak comes just months before the transfer of security responsibilities from foreign to Afghan forces in several regions, as part of the eventual withdrawal of U.S-led troops.

Under the transition programme, Afghan forces will begin by taking over from foreign troops in a few areas, but should have control of the whole country by the end of 2014.

Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, is not among the areas listed for transfer in the first stage. 

Waheed Mujhda, a Kabul-based expert on the Taliban, said: 'It is a major setback for the foreign and Afghan troops who have claimed gains against the insurgents recently.'

Mujhda said it was impossible to dig a tunnel and free more than 500 prisoners without the collaboration of guards.

He said: 'It is either a case of the jailers being financially motivated and being bribed or a case of them being politically motivated.'

In 2008, Taliban insurgents blew open the gate of the Kandahar prison under cover of darkness, allowing up to a 1,000 inmates to escape including hundreds of Taliban insurgents.

Days after that break, Taliban fighters seized many villages in districts close to Kandahar and appeared to threaten the city itself, with the government sending more than 1,000 extra troops from the north as reinforcements.

Nearly 100 Taliban fighters were killed in the ensuing battle.