Hundreds of inmates including terrorist convicts clashed with guards in a failed attempt to break out of a high-security prison in Kabul and then took control of parts of the facility, officials said yesterday.
Abdul Salaam Bakshi, chief of prisons in Afghanistan, said that guards had been forced out of a block of Policharki Prison, housing 1,300 inmates including al-Qaeda and Taliban convicts, on Saturday night.
Mohammed Qasim Hashimzai, deputy justice minister, said some inmates had been injured but prisoners had refused an offer for them to be treated.
He said some inmates were still trying to escape, and about 100 of them had taken control of a women's wing of the prison.
Reporters outside Policharki heard a short burst of gunfire yesterday morning. A few minutes later, an ambulance carrying an unidentified patient drove out of the prison.
Baskhi said police were surrounding the prison and no inmates had escaped.
"All the problem is inside the prison. It's 1,300 people. We want to peacefully solve this problem," he said, accusing the al-Qaeda and Taliban inmates of inciting other inmates.
A justice ministry delegation was visiting the prison on the outskirts of the Afghan capital yesterday morning to negotiate with the prisoners.
"They have demands, we are going to listen to what they want," Hashimzai said.
"If we cannot solve it that through negotiations, we have our own options," he added, but refused to say if that meant using force.
He said the trouble started when hundreds of inmates tried to break out on Saturday night from Block 2 of the prison -- which houses various criminals and some 350 Taliban, convicted militants among them.
Bakshi said the inmates had attacked guards and tried to force their way out of their prison block but were stopped. He said the inmates had small knives and clubs fashioned from wrecked furniture but none were armed. They had also set fire to bedding.
No guards were hurt in the clash, he said.
Policharki has suffered break-outs and riots before.
In December 2004, four inmates and four guards died during a 10-hour standoff that started when some inmates from al-Qaeda used razors to wrest some guns from guards and then tried to break out. Afghan troops stormed the prison and fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades to retake control.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS