Taliban attack Pak jail, free over 200 militants

Taliban insurgents wearing police uniforms and armed with mortars attacked a prison holding hundreds of militants in northwest Pakistan on Monday and escaped with over 200 prisoners after a gunfight with security forces, officials said. At least six policemen were killed and seven others wounded in the brazen attack in Dera Ismail Khan, senior city administration official Amir Khattak told AFP. Provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas said the attackers escaped after 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. "We cannot say at the moment that how many prisoners have escaped. It will take about three hours then we will be able to say something about escaped prisoners." The violence comes hours before Pakistani lawmakers are expected to vote for the country's new president. The attack targeted the Central Prison in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, close to the lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents are active. The jail holds up to 5,000 prisoners including some 300 militants involved in attacks on security forces and sectarian killings, he added. The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack. "Some 150 Taliban, including 60 suicide bombers, attacked the Central Prison and managed to free about 300 prisoners," Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP by telephone. However Pakistani authorities did not verify the claim. Abbas said up to 40 militants wearing police uniforms entered the jail after bombing its outer wall. "Attackers threw hand grenades on prison guards," Abbas said, adding that at least two prison staff were wounded in the attack. Khattak said "some prisoners had escaped and a curfew has been imposed in the city". Residents in Dera Ismail Khan reported hearing loud blasts and gunfire, and said the electricity supply to several parts of the city had been suspended. A local police official said he saw militants carrying rocket launchers and firing at the jail. "Militants were firing rockets at the jail and I also heard gunfire from inside the building," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said security forces had cordoned off the area around the prison where intelligence agency offices and the police headquarters are located. Shaukat Yousafzai, spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, confirmed the attack. "The army has been called in to counter the militant attack," Yousafzai said. Pakistan is battling a Taliban-led domestic insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians and security personnel since 2007. Washington considers the border tribal areas a major hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan. Later Tuesday, members of both houses of parliament and the four provincial assemblies in Pakistan are to elect a new head of state, replacing outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari.