PESHAWAR: Dozens of heavily armed Taliban fighters freed nearly 250 prisoners, including hardcore militants, during a sophisticated overnight attack on a Pakistani jail that killed 13 people, officials said yesterday.
Armed with guns, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and bombs, and disguised in police uniforms, the Taliban bombarded the prison in the town of Dera Ismail Khan before escaping with scores of inmates after a three-hour shootout.
At least 248 prisoners escaped, of whom six were later re-arrested, senior government official Mushtaq Jadoon told ARY television, describing about 30 of them as “hardcore militants”.
Malik Qasim, prisons adviser to the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said five female inmates were taken away with one female constable.
The Central Prison in Dera Ismail Khan can hold up to 5,000 inmates and around 300 were being held in connection with attacks on security forces and sectarian killings. But it was not clear how many were present during the assault, which began late on Monday and ended early yesterday.
The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pervez Khattak, a member of cricket star Imran Khan’s party that advocates peace talks with the Taliban, branded the latest attack a failure of intelligence agencies.
The Pakistani Taliban, which has led a domestic insurgency since 2007, killing thousands of people, claimed responsibility.
“Some 150 Taliban, including 60 suicide bombers, attacked the Central Prison and managed to free about 300 prisoners,” Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said by telephone.
A security official in the city said the militants arrived in more than a dozen vehicles and that two Taliban commanders were among those who escaped.
“Militants also torched jail records and an office,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Jadoon said the fighters planted dozens of explosive devices in the jail which were later defused by bomb disposal experts.
A curfew was imposed in the city after the attack.
“We appeal on people to stay at home. It is to avoid any damage if army, police and paramilitary take any action,” Jadoon said.
AFP
