Taliban Calls Prison Operation "A Great Success"

In a statement posted on the Internet Sunday, the Taliban boasted about its success in freeing hundreds of its members in an attack on a jail in Kandahar. The group claimed the attack plan included one member parking a tanker loaded with 1800 kilograms of explosives close to the prison gate and leaving the vehicle before another member fired a rocket at it, causing the huge explosion.

The statement says the gate and the prison wall were collapsed and members of the Taliban entered the prison and helped free over 400 Taliban prisoners. The group claims the prison was under its control for a several hours, during which all prisoners were freed, including non-Taliban ones. "This operation was a great success for Taliban and a big embarrassment for the enemy," said the statement, adding that none of the Taliban members were rearrested and claiming that all of them reached safe areas.