Afghan authorities have arrested 20 Kandahar prison officials, including guards and the chief director of the Sarposa prison, in connection with Monday’s massive jail break in which nearly 500 prisoners escaped. Gen. Amir Mohammad Jamshid, the chief director of jails in Afghanistan, said the escape was “not possible without authorities’ cooperation.”
The escape began late Sunday night and went in to the early hours of Monday morning. The Taliban claimed responsibility for planning the jailbreak. Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed said Taliban members spent 5 months digging a 1,050 foot tunnel to the prison. Mujahed said cars were used to take the men to “secure destinations.”
Only 65 of the escapees have been captured. "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,” a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said earlier this week.
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