Taliban militants assault Pakistani jail, over 240 prisoners escape

PanARMENIAN.Net - Taliban militants wearing police uniform have launched an assault on a prison in Pakistan, with an official saying more than 240 prisoners escaped.

The attack on the jail in the north-western town of Dera Ismail Khan began with several explosions at around midnight on Monday, July 29. Gunmen then opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns, police chief Sohail Khalid said.

The prison houses hundreds of Taliban and militants from banned groups. The town's civil commissioner Mushtaq Jadoon said that more than 240 prisoners had escaped, six of whom were later re-arrested by police. At least 25 of the prisoners were militant fighters.

"The Taliban have loudspeakers and they are calling the names of their friends," he said, adding that militants had planted dozens of explosive devices in the jail and that 14 of them had so far been defused.

A curfew was imposed in the town and operations are continuing to clear the militants from the prison.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid has claimed responsibility for the attack. He said around 300 prisoners had been freed.

Officials said that authorities had been aware of a threat to attack the prison in recent weeks. Hundreds of inmates were freed in an assault on a prison in Bannuin northern Pakistan in April last year.

Dera Ismail Khan is the main city in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, in Pakistan's restive, mountainous tribal region.

Monday night's violence came hours before Pakistani politicians are expected to choose the country's new president.

The replacement for Asif Ali Zardari will be elected on Tuesday by the members of both houses of parliament and the four provincial assemblies.