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An extraordinary jail break from a Canadian-built prison late Friday night in Kandahar, Afghanistan, freed more than a thousand prisoners, including hundreds of Taliban fighters and some important leaders of the rebel movement on Saturday. -- "A man claiming to be one of the escapees called AFP from an unknown location to say the rebels had made it to safe havens," Nasrat Shoaib reported.[1] -- The Sunday Times of London also said that "Within hours of the attack many of the escaping Taliban were reported to have reached Taliban-controlled areas, including parts of Helmand province, where they can resume their fight against British soldiers. -- At least a dozen former prisoners crossed into Pakistan through the town of Chaman yesterday where the border was left completely unguarded. According to tribal elders they were travelling to villages notorious for their involvement with the Taliban and the drugs trade."[2] -- "Privately, soldiers fear that the 400 extra Taliban troops could have a dramatic impact on the insurgents’ ability to conduct large-scale operations against NATO forces," Jerome Starkey reported. -- "A lack of manpower and supplies have limited Taliban operations in recent months." -- As for the jail from which the prisoners escaped, "coalition officials [had] spent millions turning the 60-year-old building into a showcase facility for Afghanistan's new government, issuing guards with crisp new uniforms and giving them lessons on how to treat their charges humanely," Tom Coghlan and Colin Freeman reported for the Sunday Telegraph.[3] -- "Overlooking the dusty road into one of Afghanistan's most lawless cities, the newly-painted guard towers of Kandahar's Sarposa prison [were] supposed to be a reminder to local people of how justice has finally come to town." -- "Kandahar province was where the Taliban first emerged in the 1990s under the leadership of Mullah Omar, the one-eyed preacher whose hardline Islamist vision for Afghanistan still has strong support in the area," Coghlan and Freeman recalled. -- "However, unlike the rural areas surrounding it, the city of Kandahar is supposed to be firmly under Afghan government and NATO control. -- Sarposa Prison was until now one of the showcase development projects for the Canadian government, which is one of only four countries that has a sizeable troop contingent in Taliban-infested southern Afghanistan, along with the British, Americans, and Dutch." ...

DESPERATE HUNT FOR 1,100 WHO FLED AFGHAN JAIL IN TALIBAN RAID
By Nasrat Shoaib

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Afghan and international troops launched a desperate hunt Saturday for more than 1,100 prisoners NATO said escaped a jail in Afghanistan when Taliban rebels blasted it open.

The Taliban said 400 of its own fighters escaped when the rebels attacked the facility in the southern city of Kandahar late Friday with suicide bombs before shooting the guards.

Afghan authorities put the number of prisoners who fled one of the country's biggest jails at 886, more than 380 of whom were Taliban.

The rebels said they spent two months planning the attack, which deputy justice minister Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai said was their most sophisticated yet.

"A massive operation is underway to find the escaped inmates. The Afghan security forces are searching for them within the city and along the main and secondary roads," Hashimzai told AFP in the capital, Kabul.

"Afghanistan national security forces and ISAF forces have cordoned off the area to re-establish security and recapture the escapees," General Carlos Branco, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force told AFP. "More than 1,100 prisoners were able to escape."

Six of the escapees were recaptured during operations by security forces in villages outside Kandahar, a senior official said.

"Six of the escapees have been recaptured," deputy interior minister Munir Mangal, who flew to the troubled city after the incident, told a news conference.

Amir Mohammad Jamshid, the head of prisons at the ministry of justice, told the same news conference in Kandahar that some "important Taliban" were among those who escaped and the hunt was ongoing.

A man claiming to be one of the escapees called AFP from an unknown location to say the rebels had made it to safe havens.

"They (Taliban attackers) came in and freed us," the man who identified himself as Abdullah told AFP over the phone, adding there were buses waiting outside.

"A number of us who would not fit in the buses escaped through pomegranate gardens. We all are in safe places now," Abdullah said.

A Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, calling AFP from an unknown location, earlier said the rebels used suicide bombs and detonated a bomb-laden water tanker in the attack.

"First we exploded two suicide attacks and then our mujahedeen (holy warriors) riding motorcycles entered the prison and killed the remaining security guards.

"We successfully freed all prisoners, including our jailed Taliban and other prisoners," he told AFP.

A statement posted on the Taliban website, signed by Ahmadi, said the rebels had planned the attack two months ago.

"Today we succeeded," it said, adding the raid was part of a militant operation -- Ibrat, which means Lesson -- which the rebels declared at the beginning of this year.

An AFP reporter based in the southern city said large numbers of security forces including those of the U.S.-trained Afghan national army had been deployed to search vehicles.

It was not clear how many prison guards were killed in the raid, with Hashimzai saying seven had died and Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar Provincial Council, putting the figure at 15.

The prison raid is a blow to President Hamid Karzai, coming one day after world donors pledged 20 billion dollars to rebuild Afghanistan at a conference in Paris but also called on him to strengthen the rule of law.

Despite the presence of about 70,000 international troops mainly operating under NATO, the insurgency aimed at toppling the U.S.-backed government in Kabul has gained pace in the past two years.

KABUL -- NATO drones and spy planes crisscrossed the skies of Afghanistan yesterday hunting for hundreds of escaped Taliban prisoners after a daring night raid on Kandahar jail.

A state of emergency was declared in the city as it became clear that more than 1,100 prisoners had escaped. Residents were ordered to stay in their homes.

Up to 400 Taliban war veterans are thought to have fled after a suicide bomber with two tons of explosive on his truck smashed into the main gate.

Moments later a second suicide bomber, on foot, detonated his vest against the back of the compound, tearing another gaping hole in the wall allowing inmates to scramble to freedom.

Teams of armed Taliban, many arriving on motorbikes, stormed into the ruins, gunning down the guards, and racing to pull their fellow insurgents from the rubble.

At the same time militants bombarded the compound with machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades, causing the floor of one of the wings to collapse. The insurgents claimed that 30 armed men on motorbikes took part in the assault.

One eyewitness said the force of the main blast was strong enough to blow out the windows of houses more than a mile and a half from the prison.

Within hours of the attack many of the escaping Taliban were reported to have reached Taliban-controlled areas, including parts of Helmand province, where they can resume their fight against British soldiers.

At least a dozen former prisoners crossed into Pakistan through the town of Chaman yesterday where the border was left completely unguarded. According to tribal elders they were travelling to villages notorious for their involvement with the Taliban and the drugs trade.

The brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai, Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar’s provincial council said: “Everyone escaped. There is no one left.”

The Taliban claimed the first bomb consisted of almost two tons of homemade explosives. The prison governor, Abdul Qadir, said: “They used a truck to blow the gate open and all of the guards have been killed and are buried under rubble.” He is now under investigation to see if the insurgents had any help from insiders.

At least nine prison guards were killed and 12 more injured but the authorities are facing a far bigger headache with the hundreds of Taliban on the run. Most were foot soldiers from across southern Afghanistan, hardened by years of fighting in the insurgency.

One of the Taliban fugitives, Akhtar Mohammad, who has spent 10 months in the jail, told the Sunday Times by telephone that he had marched for more than five hours through the night after the escape. Others travelled in minibuses to Taliban camps.

He said: “We didn’t know it was going to happen. We’d finished our prayers when we heard a terrifying explosion and then we saw our people coming into the prison. “The guards inside didn’t shoot,” he added. “We saw their bodies as we left. There was no one left in the prison.”

The Taliban’s spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said locals were welcoming the men into their homes. He said: “We have changed our strategy. We are waging a psychological war to destroy the mental will of our enemies.”

Canadian troops from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) raced to the scene on Friday night, but were too late to stem the exodus.

Police launched house-to-house searches in Kandahar yesterday while NATO scrambled all the spy-planes it could muster to hunt the fugitives from the sky.

Captain Mike Finney, a spokesman for Isaf, said: “Clearly this is not good news. Rounding them up is our priority. It’s a question of how far they have got, and how quickly we can round them up.”

Kandahar is just 90 minutes’ drive from Pakistan along a surfaced road to the nearest official border crossing. But there are hundreds of unofficial crossing points and officials admit it is impossible to seal the border.

General Carlos Branco, another Isaf spokesman, said: “These guys who escaped from the prison are not going to change the operational tempo and they do not provide the Taliban with operational initiative.”

Privately, soldiers fear that the 400 extra Taliban troops could have a dramatic impact on the insurgents’ ability to conduct large-scale operations against NATO forces.

A lack of manpower and supplies have limited Taliban operations in recent months.

British forces have pointed to an increase in roadside bombs, mines, and suicide attacks as proof that the insurgents do not have the will or the manpower to stage set-piece battles.

“This could change that,” said a senior British officer. “They still won’t be able to win. When it comes to old-fashioned fighting, the international troops are far better trained and better equipped. But [the insurgents] will probably have a go.”

The prison break comes at a difficult time for President Karzai, who is coming under increasing criticism for his faltering leadership and his inability to bring the country outside Kabul under central control.

Last week, as international donors in Paris pledged another $21 billion (£10.7 billion) for Afghanistan, few had anything positive to say about how past aid had been spent and the continuing level of government corruption.

HOW TALIBAN SPRANG 450 TERRORISTS FROM KANDAHAR'S SARPOSA PRISON IN AFGHANISTAN
By Tom Coghlan in southern Afghanistan and Colin Freeman

** With the latest outrage, the insurgency has shown that its ability to stage 'spectaculars' is undiminished by setbacks in the field **

Overlooking the dusty road into one of Afghanistan's most lawless cities, the newly-painted guard towers of Kandahar's Sarposa prison are supposed to be a reminder to local people of how justice has finally come to town.

In recent years, coalition officials have spent millions turning the 60-year-old building into a showcase facility for Afghanistan's new government, issuing guards with crisp new uniforms and giving them lessons on how to treat their charges humanely.

Rather less attention, however, seems to have been spent on the jail's most basic function -- security.

Yesterday, Sarposa's entire population of 1,100 inmates -- including murderers, bandits, and about 450 hardened Islamic militants -- was enjoying freedom after an audacious Taliban attack engineered one of the biggest mass jail breaks in history.

In a spectacular raid which confounded hopes that the Taliban was now on the back foot, a group of about 30 heavily armed insurgents launched an assault on the prison on Friday evening, using two suicide bombers to blow open the gates and then massacring at least 15 dazed guards as they tried to put up a fight.

The inmates fled into the night through the lush pomegranate groves that surround the building before coalition troops could arrive from their base on the far side of the city. Convoys of Taliban-driven getaway minibuses were waiting nearby with engines running.

Yesterday, as coalition and Afghan officials launched an urgent review of security in every jail in the country and declared a state of emergency in Kandahar, Taliban supporters around the region began slaughtering sheep in anticipation of being reunited with their jailed relations.

The militant faction's excitable media spokesmen -- normally prone to wild exaggerations of their military successes -- for once had no need of hyperbole. Unable to contain their glee at such a propaganda victory, they spent much of the day issuing taunts to the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, and making blood-curdling threats of similar actions for the future.

"We released all the prisoners, including 450 Taliban, we killed most of the guards, and we blocked the roads into the city so that our fighters could escape," crowed Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman for southern Afghanistan. "This was our first attack in the very heart of Kandahar, and this is a signal to the puppet government of Hamid Karzai and the infidel government of the West that they should not forget the Taliban."

Witnesses said that the attack began at around 9:00 p.m., when a suicide bomber driving a water tanker laden with explosives careered towards the main prison gates.

As another suicide bomber on foot blew up the jail's rear gate, masked motorcyclists armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades streamed into the jail's four main courtyards, breaking open every cell door in sight.

Of particular interest to them was the prison's high-security political section, which was home to a large contingent of medium-ranking Taliban suspects handed over to the Afghan government by American forces.

"First we exploded two suicide attacks and then our mujahedin riding motorcycles entered the prison and killed the remaining security guards," said Mr. Ahmadi. "We successfully freed all prisoners including our jailed Taliban."

The operation and the ensuing gunbattle with prison guards and police lasted nearly an hour, during which eight prisoners were killed.

The Afghan government claimed that the prison's police and guards had managed to keep hold of about 200 inmates, but local officials said later that the jail had been emptied.

"It was an unprecedented attack and together with foreign forces, an operation has been launched to track down and arrest the prisoners," said Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai, Afghanistan's deputy justice minister. "We are trying to find out if there was any inside help."

He said the prison's senior manager, Abdul Qabir, was under investigation, although he stressed that was a routine measure in such cases.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar's provincial council and a brother of President Karzai, disclosed that the escaped Taliban included commanders, trained assassins, and volunteers who had undergone grooming for suicide bomb missions. "It is very dangerous for security," he said. "They are the most experienced killers and they all managed to escape."

Witnesses described seeing other inmates running along the roads and scattering into nearby villages before the Canadian troops, who are part of the NATO-led force based outside Kandahar, could arrive.

Disappearing along with them, meanwhile, was any lingering notion that the Taliban are still a rag-tag force incapable of much more than unsophisticated skirmishing.

Only as this month began, British forces in southern Afghanistan claimed the movement was on the brink of military defeat after losing more than 7,000 fighters in combat.

But costly encounters in conventional battle have focused Taliban commanders' minds on developing more sophisticated tactics, conserving their resources for better-planned "spectaculars."

The first of these took place in Kabul in January, when a combined suicide squad of gunmen and fighters blasted its way through security at the city's Serena Hotel, a five-star facility favored by Westerners, killing six people.

Then in April, marksmen managed to breach security at a parade attended by President Karzai and Western diplomats, opening fire on the crowd and killing three. "We are changing tactics and the foreigners won't see what is coming," said Mr. Ahmadi.

Yesterday a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. Humvee in western Afghanistan, killing four Marines in the deadliest attack against American troops in the country this year. Last month, the total of American and allied combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded for the first time the total in Iraq, with 19 fatalities in Afghanistan compared with 14 in Iraq.

Sarposa Prison has recently been accused of torture by inmates, who claim to have been whipped and electrocuted by their Afghan jailers.

Last month, about 40 prisoners stitched their lips together as part of a hunger protest by several hundred inmates over being held for up to two years without trial. They will now be free to air their grievances more widely, which is likely to increase support for the Taliban cause.

Kandahar province was where the Taliban first emerged in the 1990s under the leadership of Mullah Omar, the one-eyed preacher whose hardline Islamist vision for Afghanistan still has strong support in the area. However, unlike the rural areas surrounding it, the city of Kandahar is supposed to be firmly under Afghan government and NATO control.

Sarposa Prison was until now one of the showcase development projects for the Canadian government, which is one of only four countries that has a sizeable troop contingent in Taliban-infested southern Afghanistan, along with the British, Americans, and Dutch.

Canadian prison officials were sent to train guards and teach them about human rights, until now a largely unheard of concept within the Afghan penal system.

Their funding of the jail program is just a tiny part of the mounting bill that foreign governments have incurred through their efforts to support Afghanistan's fledgling democracy.

Last Thursday, international donors pledged another £10 billion at a conference in Paris, despite mounting concern that much of the money is disappearing through corruption and sheer incompetence within Afghanistan's government.

Yesterday Canadians reacted with dismay at seeing their prison project in ruins.

"The message this attack sends is that the insurgents can act with relative impunity even into downtown Kandahar," said Colin Kenny, the head of the Canadian senate's committee on security and national defense, and a campaigner for more NATO troops to join the Afghan mission.

"The other message it sends is to the insurgent rank and file: if you get captured, we'll get you out."