KABUL, June 14 (Reuters) - Afghan and foreign troops were hunting on Saturday for hundreds of prisoners, including militants, who escaped the main prison in the southern city of Kandahar after a raid by Taliban insurgents, the government said. Authorities have also launched a probe to find out if any government officials were involved in the commando-style attack by several dozen Taliban fighters under darkness on Friday. So far none of the prisoners has been arrested, deputy justice minister Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai, told Reuters. "Government officials are busy finding out what really happened. We are trying to find out that if there was any inside help," Hashimzai said. "It was a very unprecedented attack and together with foreign forces, an operation has been launched to track down and arrest the prisoners." Hashimzai said some 1,000 inmates, including up to 400 Taliban, were held in the prison before the attack. He could not say how many had managed to escape, adding there were casualties among police, the Taliban and prisoners from a clash following the attack which began with the blowing of the jail's entrance by a suicide bomber driving a truck at it. Several dozen Taliban, armed with rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles then stormed the mud-built compound and started to free the prisoners which apart from militants included women and suspected criminals. Some high ranking Taliban field commanders were also among those who have managed to escape, a politician said from Kandahar, the birth place and the main stronghold of the Taliban who were ousted from power in 2001. The U.S. military has handed over an unspecified number of suspected Taliban fighters to Afghan custody under a programme agreed last year to transfer all Afghan prisoners from U.S. detention. The U.S. military had arrested thousands of suspected Taliban and al Qaeda militants since invading Afghanistan in 2001 to help topple the Taliban government. Last month, scores of Taliban prisoners in Kandahar's jail resorted to several days of hunger strike, complaining of being badly treated. Friday's attack was the most brazen by Taliban militants who have made a come back since 2006, although the group in April tried to assassinate President Hamid Karzai as he was attending a military parade near the presidential palace in Kabul. Officials say the Kabul was attack was facilitated by some members from the security forces. (Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Activists of Shi'ite Muslim group Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqh-Jafria chant slogans against the U.S air strike on a border post in the Mohmand tribal region during a protest in Islamabad June 13, 2008. Fiercely ...
