Afghan army storms siege prison
Declan Walsh in Islamabad - Saturday December 18, 2004 -
The Guardian
Afghan soldiers stormed a notorious prison in Kabul last night, ending a 10-hour siege that left five prison guards and four inmates dead.
Just after nightfall, rockets and small-arms fire exploded around Pul-e-Charki, where four suspected al-Qaida militants had attempted a daring jail break as they were led to morning prayers.
The prisoners, three Pakistanis and an Iraqi, stabbed a prison guard to death with razors, seized his gun and shot another three guards. A gun battle broke out, killing two of the four prisoners. The other two retreated to a vantage point where they spent the rest of the day taking pot-shots at security forces around the sprawling complex.
Soldiers took up positions on the roof, and jail officials used a loudspeaker to warn the prisoners: "Surrender or die."
Meanwhile, 200 police officers and four armoured vehicles from the German peacekeeping mission gathered outside the prison walls.
As darkness fell, five lorry loads of soldiers from the newly trained Afghan National Army arrived, and further shooting could be heard.
One panting soldier who walked from the scene told reporters: "We killed them." After one last burst of gunfire, the military commander, Amin Jan, said "We searched all the rooms, and it's now under control, so we're leaving."
Five prison officers died and two policemen were missing, said a spokesman for the interior ministry. Three police officers and two inmates, caught in the crossfire, were wounded.
The renegade prisoners were first held in a northern jail run by the warlord, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, in 2001, on suspicion of fighting alongside the Taliban and al-Qaida, officials said.
Pul-e-Charki, a crumbling and overcrowded prison on the edge of Kabul, was the scene of many executions under the Taliban and previous Afghan regimes.
Current inmates include three Americans serving sentences of eight to 10 years for torturing Afghan al-Qaida suspects. Jack Idema, an American mercenary, and colleagues Edward Carabello and Brent Bennett were found guilty last September after a chaotic trial that embarrassed the US and its Afghan allies.
Idema claimed to be covertly employed by the US military and has lodged an appeal due to be heard early next year.
It was unclear whether the three Americans were being held in the same wing as the renegade inmates. Officials earlier said they were being held separately from other prisoners.
