Afghanistan to release 65 'dangerous' Taliban prisoners

Kabul (AFP)
Feb 11, 2014

Afghanistan on Tuesday said it would press ahead with the release of scores of alleged Taliban fighters from jail despite US objections that the men were a threat to NATO and Afghan forces.

Kabul announced on January 9 that a total of 72 detainees held at Bagram jail near the capital would be freed due to lack of evidence, sparking strong condemnation from the United States.

Afghan authorities "concluded that the there is no evidence against 72 out of 88 prisoners. We reviewed their cases again after objections by the US forces, and for now we will release 65 prisoners," Abdul Shukur Dadras from the Afghan government body reviewing detainees at Bagram said on Tuesday.

"These 65 inmates... will be released as soon as early next week," he told AFP.

The issue threatens to further strain US-Afghan relations amid pressure for the two countries to sign a long-delayed security deal allowing some American soldiers to stay in the country after 2014.

In a statement, US forces in Afghanistan said the prisoners were a "legitimate force protection concern" for both Afghan and international forces fighting a bloody Taliban-led insurgency since late 2001.

"The release of these detainees is a major step backward for the rule of law in Afghanistan," the statement said.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said American troops would be ready to kill or capture the freed detainees if they posed a danger.

"It is the US position that these are threats to US forces and should they take up arms against us, we would take immediate action," Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.

Asked to elaborate, Warren said that "of course, we would try to kill and capture them as the battlefield situation presents."

Bagram was the main detention center housing Taliban and other insurgents captured by the Western military forces until it was transferred to Afghan control last year.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Afghanistan_to_release_65_dangerous_Taliban_prisoners_999.html.

Pakistan Taliban prison raid frees hundreds

30 Jul 2013

About 250 inmates escape in attack that also left 12 dead and eight injured in northwest city of Dera Ismail Khan.

Taliban fighters armed with mortars and grenades have attacked a prison in northwest Pakistan, escaping with about 250 prisoners after a gunfight with security forces, officials have said.

At least 12 people, including six police. were killed and eight others wounded in the assault, staged by fighters disguised in police uniforms, officials said.

The attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan began late on Monday with a huge explosion, intelligence officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The fighters then detonated a series of smaller bombs to destroy the prison's boundary wall.

Security forces engaged the attackers, who were chanting "God is great" and "Long live the Taliban".

"Police and other law enforcing agencies are busy in clearing the jail," a senior government official Mushtaq Jadoon said, adding authorities have imposed a curfew in the city and asked residents to stay at home.

Pakistan's military confirmed that it had deployed forces to respond to the raid.

Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from the capital, Islamabad, said: "I would describe it [the attack] as extremely calculated."

Some of the Taliban fighters were using loudspeakers and calling the individual names of inmates to come out of the badly damaged prison, he said.

Officials have said that 40 to 45 so-called high-profile or high-value prisoners were freed, our correspondent added.

Taliban claim responsibility

Provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas said the attackers escaped after a three-hour long gunfight with security forces.

"Security forces have entered the prison and cleared the building after which we have started counting prisoners with flashlights as there is no power in the prison and it is making our job difficult," Abbas told AFP news agency.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a spokesperson. The group said that "over 100 fighters" had attacked the prison.

The Taliban have been waging a deadly uprising against the government for years that has killed thousands of security personnel and civilians.

Dera Ismail Khan, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is located on the edge of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal area, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters.

The jail, which housed about 5,000 prisoners, is near the bordering town of Tank and adjacent to volatile South Waziristan Agency, the main area of influence of the outlawed TTP.

In April 2012, Taliban fighters armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades battled their way into a prison in the city of Bannu in northwest Pakistan, freeing close to 400 prisoners, including at least 20 described by police as "very dangerous" fighters.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/07/2013729201057462974.html.