Inmates Control Parts Of Afghan Prison

(AP)  Hundreds of inmates including terrorist convicts clashed with guards at a high-security prison in Kabul and then took control of parts of the facility, officials said Sunday.

Abdul Salaam Bakshi, chief of prisons in Afghanistan, said that guards had been forced out of a block of Policharki Prison, housing 1,300 inmates including al Qaeda and Taliban convicts, on Saturday night.

An Associated Press reporter heard two bursts of gunfire about two hours apart on Sunday. The Afghan army deployed more than 100 soldiers and parked eight tanks and armored personnel carriers outside the prison gates.

Bakshi said police were also surrounding the prison and no inmates have escaped.

Mohammed Qasim Hashimzai, deputy justice minister, said four inmates had been injured but prisoners, who claimed that about 20 had been injured, had refused an offer for them to be treated.

An ambulance carrying at least one unidentified patient drove out of the prison.

Hashimzai said some inmates were still trying to escape, and about 100 of them had taken control of a women's wing of the prison.

"All the problem is inside the prison. It's 1,300 people. We want to peacefully solve this problem," Bakshi said.

He said the prison houses a total of 2,000 inmates. They include about 350 Taliban and al Qaeda, whom he accused of inciting other prisoners.

A justice ministry delegation was visiting the prison on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Sunday to negotiate with the prisoners.

"They have demands, we are going to listen to what they want," Hashimzai said. "If we cannot solve it that through negotiations, we have our own options," he added, but refused to say if that meant using force.

He said the trouble started on Saturday when jail officials delivered new prison uniforms, in response to a breakout last month when seven Taliban inmates escaped by disguising themselves as visitors.

The prisoners refused the uniforms, triggering a riot, in which hundreds of inmates tried to break out from Block 2 of the prison.

Bakshi said the inmates had attacked guards and tried to force their way out of their prison block but were stopped. He said the inmates had small knives and clubs fashioned from wrecked furniture but none were armed. They had also set fire to bedding.

No guards were hurt in the clash, he said.

Policharki has suffered riots before.

In December 2004, four inmates and four guards died during a 10-hour standoff that started when some inmates from al Qaeda used razors to wrest some guns from guards and then tried to break out. Afghan troops stormed the prison and fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades to retake control.

Some wings of Policharki are being refurbished to improve security and living conditions. Some 110 Afghan terror suspects are expected to be sent there later this year from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Afghan officials say.