Taliban Releases 1,200 Prisoners in Assault On Kandahar`s Central Detention Center
By: Tommy Elder, Jr.
With the assistance of the Taliban- 1,200 prisoners fled from a Kandahar, Afghanistan Prison. Carlotta Gall of the New York Times writes that a wave of Taliban soldiers swarmed this correctional facility freeing 350 Taliban colleagues. Speaking of the escapes- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said- `It is very dangerous for security. They are the most experienced killers and they all managed to escape.`
Qari Yousuf Ahmadi described the assault as coming from thirty troops riding motorbikes along with two suicide bombers. This group released approximately four hundred Taliban insurgents.
Some observers believe that these escapes from Sarposa Prison created difficulties for the Afghan Government and NATO in Kandahar. Kandahar serves as the base for the leadership in Afghanstan. Keeping Kandahar under the control of the central government- many believe will remain essential to holding the nation together.
According to President Karzai in his description of the attack-the event occured in the following manner- the bandits centered their attack on the political portion of the prison. This unit holds the Taliban inmates. About 200 prisoners remained in the facility due to the efforts of the guards protecting it. Some people in the nearest town disputed this claim and contended that the entire prison population escaped.
Outside the compound approximately 300 women claimed that their relatives swarmed on this facility`s lock-up due to sweeps by NATO and the American Military. They profess the innocence of these inmates and claim that they languished in detention for months and sometimes years without trials.
Local officials and government leaders secured a conclusion to the protests by promising improved living standards and justice.
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