11:50/14:07:2009

QALAT (PAN): Eight inmates including one hardened criminal and political prisoners escaped from the central jail of the southern Zabul province early Tuesday morning, a top police officer said.

The jailbreak happened soon after morning prayers, Zabul's deputy police head told Pajhwok Afghan News. The prisoners overpowered a jail guard who took them out for Fajr prayers and fled.

Col. Ghulam Jilani Farahi said the eight men tied up the prison guard before fleeing. Police have launched a hunt for the escapees but none of them has been arrested hitherto, according to the official.

A prison source, meanwhile, confided to Pajhwok the prisoners exploited the guard's negligence and fled the jail, located inside a small building near the Qalat police headquarters.

Some of the fleeing inmates were accused of involvement in manslaughter, bomb explosions and attacks, the official revealed on condition of anonymity. Muhammad Hanif, living close to the central prison, said the escapees fired a volley of gunshots at the building as soon as they forced their way out. A spokesman for Taliban claimed the prisoners, all members of the insurgent movement, escaped from the jail under a well-orchestrated plan. They had reached rebel hideouts, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi added.