Taliban Claims To Have Helped Over 500 Prisoners Escape Afghan Jail

The Taliban claims to have helped more than 500 prisoners escape from a jail in southern Afghanistan on Monday. A spokesman for the group, Zabiullah Mujahed, said Taliban members spent 5 months digging a 1,050 foot tunnel to the Sarposa prison in Kandahar province. Prisoners began leaving the jail around 11 p.m. Sunday night, but guards did not notice their absence until 7:30 a.m. on Monday. Mujahed said cars were used to take the men to “secure destinations.”

Mujahed put the number of escapees at 541, but NATO reported around 470 escapees. As of late Monday, only 26 prisoners had been recaptured. Kandahar province governor Tooryalai Wesa said “huge operations” were launched to find all of the fugitives.

"This is a blow. It is something that shouldn't have happened. A prison break of this magnitude of course points to vulnerability … we have loopholes,” said a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai.

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