Prisoners Escape Afghan Prison After Blast: Officials
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents blew open the entrance of a main prison in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday where several hundred suspected militants were jailed, the head of the prison said.
Nearly all of an estimated 1,150 prisoners, including some 400 Taliban inmates, have fled the prison, two officials told Reuters in Kandahar on condition of anonymity.
A view of the prison in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on April 7, 2004.
The blast caused an unknown number of casualties, prison director Abdul Qadir told Reuters.
"They (Taliban) used a truck to blow the gate open and all of the guards (at the gate) have been killed and are under rubble," he said by telephone. As he spoke, bursts of gunfire could be heard in the background.
The two officials who declined to be named said the Taliban also fired several rockets at various parts of the mud-built prison. The province is a stronghold of the ousted Taliban movement.
(Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Caroline Drees)
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