Nearly 500 terrorists are now on the loose in Afghanistan after the Taliban spent months digging an elaborate tunnel to spring them from a massive prison.
The brazen breakout at Sarposa prison in Kandahar is a major embarrassment for the Afghan regime.
Using car jacks, the inmates broke through several inches of concrete on a cell floor. They dug a hole five feet deep and three feet in diameter and concealed it with prayer rugs.
At the same time, Taliban fighters on the outside took over a house several blocks away and began digging toward the prison.
It took months, but the tunnel eventually ran more than 1,000 feet, snaking under heavily guarded prison checkpoints, watchtowers and a main highway.
The tunnelers reached the cell Sunday.
One escapee told the Daily Beast that a Taliban senior commander walked into his cell, tugged at his big toe and told him to go to an adjoining cell where he would be led outside.
“It was like a dream,” the insurgent said.
The operation lasted from 11 p.m. Sunday until 3:30 a.m. yesterday. After the terrorists were freed from their locked cells, they crawled one at a time through the hole to freedom.
When they reached the end, they were greeted by five or six suicide bombers who guided them to transportation, the Daily Beast said. The original plan was for the bombers to enter the prison and kill everyone left, but that idea was ditched at the last second. Instead, bombs were left in the tunnel, hampering the authorities’ investigation.
The escapees have vowed to continue their fight.
“Among us are some of the strongest commanders,” one 28-year-old terrorist said. “We will now be fighting in the jihad with a clearer, smarter mind.” With AP, Reuters