Taliban Group Claims Responsibility for Pakistani Prison Break

The Globe and Mail | ISMAIL KHAN | The New York Times News Service | PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN — Nearly 250 prisoners escaped after a massive attack on one of the main prisons in northwestern Pakistan on Monday night, a senior security official said.

Authorities imposed a curfew in the city of Dera Ismail Khan, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, after the overnight attack on the 100-year-old central prison there, which had held more than 500 inmates. All roads leading to the neighbouring restive tribal regions of North and South Waziristan were blocked and a search has begun, officials said, adding that six prisoners had been recaptured.

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Pak Intel had Warned Days Before About Taliban's Brazen Plan to Attack Dera Ismail Khan Jail

Afghanistan Sun (ANI) | Wednesday 31st July, 2013 - Pakistan intelligence agencies had warned the concerned authorities days before that the Taliban were planning to carry out an assault on the central jail in Dera Ismail Khan.

The National Crisis Management Cell had written a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Interior Minister, IG FC Police and IG Police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and warned them of the possibility of an attack.

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Taliban Militants Storm Pakistani Prison

ITAR-TASS | ISLAMABAD, July 30. – Taliban forces have successfully stormed a prison located in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. As a result of this operation, 243 inmates managed to escape – six of those were later detained. Among those who fled the prison are a number of members of extremist organizations. According to local media, the assault led to 13 casualties: six police officers, four inmates, two combatants and one civilian.

Eyewitnesses reported that terrorists first disabled power generators of the prison, allowing them to attack it under the cover of darkness. Eight powerful makeshift explosive devices were used during the assault.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has taken responsibility for this daring assault. The outlawed organization is known for being behind the majority of terrorist acts conducted on the territory of Pakistan.

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More Than 240 Prisoners Freed in Brazen Attack by the Pakistani Taliban

Bailey Cahall  |  AfPak Channel  | Around 243 prisoners, including 30 "hardcore militants," escaped from the heavily guarded Central Prison in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday night when more than 100 militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy arms attacked the facility.  The highly coordinated assault began when the attackers blew up the prison's electricity line, detonated bombs they had planted around the facility to breach its external wall, and opened fire on the prison's security forces.  According to multiple reports, around 70 of the militants were in police uniforms, and they used megaphones to call out to specific prisoners, freeing them from their cells with hand grenades.  At least 14 people were killed in the attack, including six policemen and six Shi'a prisoners whose throats were slashed by the gunmen. 

Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, contacted multiple news agencies to claim responsibility for the assault, which comes a little more than a year after the group attacked the Central Jail in Bannu and freed about 400 prisoners.  Dera Ismail Khan and the neighboring town of Tank have been placed under a curfew while a search operation for the escaped prisoners continues.  Those released include Abdul Hakim and Haji Illyas, two local Taliban commanders, as well as Waleed Akbar, a sectarian militant suspected of killing Shi'a mourners during an attack last year. 

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