Mass jail break in Pakistan as Taliban gunmen storm prison
In an operation
carried out with military-like precision, Taliban fighters disguised as
police and armed with bombs broke into a prison and discharged 250
inmates from a Pakistan jail on Tuesday.
The jail break is believed to have been done with the help of what appeared to be insider informants.
The attack in the city of Dera Ismail Khan showed the ability of the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban to strike at the heart of Pakistan's heavily guarded prison system and walk away with dozens of senior Taliban fighters and commanders.
The overnight assault on the Central Prison took place in spite of reports that regional officials had received intelligence days, if not weeks, ago suggesting such an attack was imminent.
Officials blamed a combination of negligence and lack of communication among Pakistan's many security agencies, but some suggested there may have been a degree of insider help.
Just hours before the attack, army and police units had met at the jail to discuss security, one source said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
``It is very difficult to attack such a place without proper information or contacts,’’ said the police source, adding that some prisoners were suspected to have been in touch with the Taliban by mobile phones provided by sympathetic wardens.
``They are corrupt, lazy and unprofessional. And the militants may have supporters in the city.’’
Another senior official in the provincial capital of Peshawar said only some 70 of the 200 prison guards who were meant to be on duty were present that night.
``Most policemen ran for their lives once the attack started, leaving their weapons behind,’’ the official told Reuters.
``They could have easily killed some of the attackers but they even gave up their own guns, providing the attackers with more ammunition.’’
The attack came a year after a similar mass jailbreak in the northern town of Bannu which Taliban militants said was carried out with inside help from prison guards. An inquiry later found there were far fewer guards on duty than there should have been.
A senior Taliban official told Reuters separately the latest attack was masterminded by Adnan Rashid, a Taliban commander who was himself freed in last year's prison break.
This time, Pakistani Taliban said they had sent a squad of 100 fighters and seven suicide bombers on a mission to free some of their top leaders, and they said they released 250 prisoners - a number roughly matched by Pakistani authorities.
Fighting continued into the early hours of Tuesday, with explosions and machine gunfire rattling the city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on the edge of Pakistan's lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
As the attack unfolded, gunmen blew up electricity lines to the prison and detonated bombs to breach the outer walls.
They fought their way inside using rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, and called the names of Taliban prisoners they wanted to release through loud speakers.
Once inside, attackers shot open most of the locks and used bombs to blast their way deep into the prison, shouting, ``all the locks are broken! Those who want to escape, now is your chance,’’ prison officials who were there at the time told Reuters.
Gunmen also took over a nearby house and hospital, holding the residents hostage as they fired on police from the rooftops and laid ambushes for reinforcements.
Describing the chaos that gripped the town that night, police Constable Gul Mohammed said he had been rushing to the scene when he was confronted by two boys holding rifles.
``They told me to stop,’’ he told Reuters. ``I told them I am a policeman, and that's when they opened fire.’’ He added that he was shot three times.
At least 12 people were killed, officials said, including five policemen and four prisoners from the minority Shi'ite branch of Islam.
Their throats were slashed by gunmen, officials said. The Taliban are mostly majority Sunni Muslims.
The carefully planned attack underlines the growing capabilities of the Pakistani branch of the Taliban, an offshoot of the insurgents of the same name in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The attack in the city of Dera Ismail Khan showed the ability of the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban to strike at the heart of Pakistan's heavily guarded prison system and walk away with dozens of senior Taliban fighters and commanders.
The overnight assault on the Central Prison took place in spite of reports that regional officials had received intelligence days, if not weeks, ago suggesting such an attack was imminent.
Officials blamed a combination of negligence and lack of communication among Pakistan's many security agencies, but some suggested there may have been a degree of insider help.
Just hours before the attack, army and police units had met at the jail to discuss security, one source said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
``It is very difficult to attack such a place without proper information or contacts,’’ said the police source, adding that some prisoners were suspected to have been in touch with the Taliban by mobile phones provided by sympathetic wardens.
``They are corrupt, lazy and unprofessional. And the militants may have supporters in the city.’’
Another senior official in the provincial capital of Peshawar said only some 70 of the 200 prison guards who were meant to be on duty were present that night.
``Most policemen ran for their lives once the attack started, leaving their weapons behind,’’ the official told Reuters.
``They could have easily killed some of the attackers but they even gave up their own guns, providing the attackers with more ammunition.’’
The attack came a year after a similar mass jailbreak in the northern town of Bannu which Taliban militants said was carried out with inside help from prison guards. An inquiry later found there were far fewer guards on duty than there should have been.
A senior Taliban official told Reuters separately the latest attack was masterminded by Adnan Rashid, a Taliban commander who was himself freed in last year's prison break.
This time, Pakistani Taliban said they had sent a squad of 100 fighters and seven suicide bombers on a mission to free some of their top leaders, and they said they released 250 prisoners - a number roughly matched by Pakistani authorities.
Fighting continued into the early hours of Tuesday, with explosions and machine gunfire rattling the city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on the edge of Pakistan's lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
As the attack unfolded, gunmen blew up electricity lines to the prison and detonated bombs to breach the outer walls.
They fought their way inside using rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, and called the names of Taliban prisoners they wanted to release through loud speakers.
Once inside, attackers shot open most of the locks and used bombs to blast their way deep into the prison, shouting, ``all the locks are broken! Those who want to escape, now is your chance,’’ prison officials who were there at the time told Reuters.
Gunmen also took over a nearby house and hospital, holding the residents hostage as they fired on police from the rooftops and laid ambushes for reinforcements.
Describing the chaos that gripped the town that night, police Constable Gul Mohammed said he had been rushing to the scene when he was confronted by two boys holding rifles.
``They told me to stop,’’ he told Reuters. ``I told them I am a policeman, and that's when they opened fire.’’ He added that he was shot three times.
At least 12 people were killed, officials said, including five policemen and four prisoners from the minority Shi'ite branch of Islam.
Their throats were slashed by gunmen, officials said. The Taliban are mostly majority Sunni Muslims.
The carefully planned attack underlines the growing capabilities of the Pakistani branch of the Taliban, an offshoot of the insurgents of the same name in neighbouring Afghanistan.
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