More than 400 prisoners escape from high security Kandahar prison withdrawal, security, between, several, without

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More than 400 prisoners escape from high security Kandahar prison



KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada's pending withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan could become more perilous as the result of a jailbreak of more than 400 prisoners from Kandahar's supposedly high security main jail on Sunday night and Monday morning.


The inmates escaped from Sarpoza Prison over several hours between dusk and dawn without a single shot being fired. They used a 300 metre long tunnel that the Taliban claimed Monday that it had spent five months burrowing under and into the jail.


The tunnel surfaced in the jail's political block. It is in a corner of the prison with a pleasant courtyard and a cooking area that is home to hundreds of insurgents including some who are considered to be mid-level Taliban leaders.


No Canadians were present at the prison during the breakout although Corrections Canada officers pay regular visits to Sarpoza, where they mentor Afghan guards. Living conditions in the penitentiary have improved greatly since the Canadians began making regular visits several years ago.

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Canadian troops rushed to the scene of the last exodus from Sarpoza in June, 2008, when more than 1,000 inmates were sprung during a brazen daylight assault on the prison walls and gate that involved a massive truck bomb, other suicide bombers and more than a dozen armed insurgents. There was no such Canadian response this time because Canada handed over security responsibility for Kandahar City to American troops on July 1, 2010.


Nevertheless, Canadian forces in Dand and Panjwaii were taking additional security precautions Monday, a military spokesman for Task Force Kandahar said. The measures were designed to try to prevent escapees from fleeing to the two districts near Kandahar City, where Canada still has about 2,000 combat troops deployed. Their combat mission is to end in July.


The latest spectacular flight from Sarpoza will once again bring into sharp focus weaknesses in the Afghan government in the south. The jailbreak is also likely to seriously complicate security for Afghan and NATO forces across the south.


Coalition forces had made great progress on the battlefield in the past year, largely eliminating the Taliban as a military threat in its traditional homeland in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand province. In recent months the Taliban have switched tactics, concentrating mainly on blowing up soft targets and assassinating Afghans who work for or with the government.


A small number of Canadian troops and government officials including Corrections Canada officers are still based in Kandahar City. They are to continue working out of a joint base with American troops near the centre of the capital until sometime in June.

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An Afghan National Army soldier keeps watch outside Kandahar's main jail April 25, 2011. Insurgents tunnelled into the main jail in Afghanistan's volatile Kandahar province on Monday, freeing hundreds of prisoners, including many Taliban commanders, a serious setback for U.S. forces who hope to start withdrawing in coming months.