PAKISTAN TALIBAN PRISON RAID FREES HUNDREDS

 

     Islamabad, 23 Ramadan 1434/30 July 2013 (MINA) – Taliban fighters armed with mortars and grenades have raided a prison in northwest Pakistan, frees about 250 prisoners after a gunfight with security forces.

     The relevant officials said at least 12 people, including six police, were killed and eight others wounded in the assault, staged by fighters disguised in police uniforms, Aljazeera quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

     Intelligence officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity, the raid in the town of Dera Ismail Khan began late on Monday with a huge explosion. The fighters then detonated a series of smaller bombs to destroy the prison’s boundary wall.

     Security forces engaged the invader, who were chanting “God is great” and “Long live the Taliban”.

     “Police and other law enforcing agencies are busy in clearing the jail,” a senior government official Mushtaq Jadoon said, adding authorities have imposed a curfew in the city and asked residents to stay at home.

        Pakistan’s military confirmed that it had deployed forces to respond to the raid.

       Aljazeera reporter said that some of the Taliban fighters were using loudspeakers and calling the individual names of inmates to come out of the badly damaged prison.

       Officials have said that 40 to 45 so-called high-profile or high-value prisoners were freed.

       Provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas said the attackers escaped after a three-hour long gunfight with security forces.

      “Security forces have entered the prison and cleared the building after which we have started counting prisoners with flashlights as there is no power in the prison and it is making our job difficult,” Abbas told a French news agency.

       The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the raid, according to a spokesperson. The group said that “over 100 fighters” had raided the prison. (T/P09/P03)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)