476 Inmates Escape from Kandahar Jail

Nearly 476 prisoners have escaped from Kandahar prison in the south of Afghanistan on Monday, local officials said.

Toryalai Wesa, Governor of Kandahar told TOLOnews that 476 prisoners have escaped from jail today and some of them have been recaptured by Afghan forces in the province.

Mr Wesa added that all the escapees were political prisoners except one.

"The enemy dug a tunnel from a house to the jail and at 04:30 early today we heard that some prisoners had escaped," Mr Wesa said.

Meanwhile, the acting police chief of Kandahar, Sher Shah Yousufzai, also confirmed the escape and said last night some political prisoners broke out of the prison.

Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said the Taliban had arranged the mass break-out and the plan took eight months to be implemented.

Taliban have said they had dug the 320m tunnel in a period of five months.

The prisoners broke out of the prison at 11:00 pm local time last night and the escape continued until early morning of Monday, officials said.

The jail break is the second major escape in three years to hit Kandahar prison.

According to reports in 2008 nearly 9,000 prisoners including Taliban insurgents escaped after the Taliban blew a truck to open the gates.

Militants have recently increased their activities in the province and have targeted some provincial officials.

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