(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Around 100 Daesh and Taliban prisoners were among those escaped from the central jail in eastern Nangarhar province during a protracted coordinated attack on the facility, a reliable source said Tuesday.
A group of 11 Daesh men attacked the main prison in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, on Sunday after a car bomb attack at the jail's entrance, with fierce fighting stretching into Monday afternoon.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source told Pajhwok Afghan News that most of the prisoners escaped through a hole in the prison's wall as the firefight raged.
At least 25 people were killed, including civilians, police guards and prisoners and another 48 were injured in the assault that came to an end with the killing of all the eleven attackers.
Local officials said the jail housed 1793 prisoners at the time of the attack. The female section of the jail remained safe and no one was hurt there.
Around 1025 prisoners who tried to escape were rearrested, 430 prisoners remained inside and were rescued while no information has been shared with the media about the remaining 338 prisoners who are on the loose.
The Nangarhar governor's spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, told Pajhwok more than 100 prisoners were missing and some were among the dead and wounded as information about them was being assessed.
'The missing prisoners include Taliban, Daesh and criminals but not hardcore criminals who are kept in Kabul ,' he said.
He said the female portion of the jail remained safe during the assault and all women inmates were safe.
However, a source in Nangarhar told Pajhwok on the condition of anonymity that 71 Daesh and 27 Taliban prisoners had escaped from the jail.
Nangarhar provincial council head Ahmad Ali Hazrat also said above 200 prisoners had escaped from the jail during the attack, but security forces were searching for them. 'Their number may be above 250 and include Daesh and Taliban inmates and criminals.'
It was said that most of the prisoners escaped through a hole in the northern wall of the jail into a marketplace.
A security official, who manned the security tower of the prison, told Pajhwok that rockets were fired at the tower and it knocked him unconscious. 'When I came to senses, I realized my colleagues had taken me to a safe place.'
Some residents and nearby shop owners claimed their houses and shops were looted during the incident but they did not recognize the looters.
Abdul Ahad Kamawal, who runs a vet shop, said at least two shops which shared wall with the prison were damaged by the prisoners by making holes to escape.
He said many shops were looted and 800,000 afghanis were stolen from one shop alone.
Nearly houses did not suffer remarkable damage, but residents said women and children suffered mentally during the prolonged siege.
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