Several prisoners flee from Kandahar jail of Afghanistan

At least 475 prisoners at a jail in southern Afghanistan have run away through a tunnel hundreds of meters lengthy and hollow out from outer side of the jail.

Authorities in the city of Kandahar believed that most of those who ran away were Taliban militants. The Kandahar provincial governor's office said some had since been re-arrested but gave no additional factors. According to the spokesman for the Taliban said it had dug the 320m (1,050ft) tunnel and that it had consumed five months to build.

Zabiullah Mujahid said about 100 of those who run off were Taliban leaders, and several of the others were militants with the insurgency. Sources say the Taliban frequently make blown up claims.

Ghulam Dastageer Mayar, Director General of jails told, a lengthy tunnel was dug from the south of the prison into the jail and 476 political criminals fled away last night. The prison seizes about 1,200 prisoners.

One run away told, it had taken him probably 30 minutes to run the length of the tunnel. The runaway took most of the night and vehicles were waiting at the way out point to take prisoners away. It is supposed that the tunnel was dug from a house outside the prison walls. The jailbreak is the second biggest incident from the prison in three years.

In June 2008 a suicide bomber propel open the Kandahar prison gates and damaged a nearby checkpoint, releasing about 900 prisoners, many of them believed militants. Later on, a huge amount of pounds were consumed rebuilding the jail.

 The 2008 flight was hunted by a main increase in fighting. The prison is under Afghan management, but Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said it was prepared to give support if demanded by Afghan authorities.

Nato forces are organizing for the long procedure of pulling out from Afghanistan. In the first stage is the shift of security authorities to local forces from July, but Kandahar is not amongst the first tranche of provinces and cities to be handed over to the Afghans.

Experts say that it is only to be projected that those areas will once more be the intention of militant actions as the Taliban will be setting up to grab them back.