Seven Die in Al Qaeda Jailbreak

Swissinfo/Reuters ^ | 12/17/2004 | Yousuf Azimy

[Coop]

KABUL (Reuters) - Five Afghan prison guards and police and two prisoners have been killed in a jail break attempt by al Qaeda inmates and a shoot-out was going on with another two, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said.

Several police and prisoners were wounded in the ensuing siege of two prisoners holed up in a workshop inside the sprawling Soviet-era Pul-i-Charki prison compound on the southeast outskirts of Kabul...

The prisoners killed by guards were Pakistani and Iraqi al Qaeda members who had been arrested in Kabul by Afghan security forces...

[Coop]

More "lack of evidence" that there's any connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

[Coop]

Flag

[Piquaboy]

If they had been killed at the get go they would not have been breaking out.

[Husker8877]

But this story must obviously be a mistake!

The brave Al-Queda freedom fighters would never stage a prison revolt, except in protest of the inhumane treatment by american imperialists, led by George Bush (who must have called the prison guards and told them to be mean to the poor Al-Queda heroes).

Where, oh where are the american patriots Harry Reid, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, Cameron Diaz, and Koffi Annan when we need them most?

[madrastex]

AMEN!!!

[Valin]

Call in the ACLU!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

There aren't any jail breaks going on here.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More "lack of evidence" that there's any connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

Right!

[Almondjoy]

Oh please.. I know I know that their were connections between Iraq and Al-qadea.. but please don't give any credibility to the left by saying such garbage.

If you recall there was an American arrested for joining the ranks of Al-Qadea.. would you then assume there is a link between us and Al-Qadea.

Making mountains out of molehills is what demmies do.

[Coop]

Did the U.S. government train an Al Qaeda-linked group on a mock aircraft?

Did the U.S. government provide medical care for a senior Al Qaeda leader?

No?? So, then, what exactly was your point again?

[Boot Hill]

Sorry to be so late responding to your ping.

This is an interesting story for what it says about the maturing of the new Afghani leadership. Not in the 5,000 years of recorded history of Afghanistan has there been such a government. Simply amazing what Bush had done there.

--Boot Hill

[Almondjoy]

That an Iraqi in Afghanstan as a member of Al-Qadea means nothing other than there is a person who is Iraqi who is a member of Al-Qaeda fighting us in Afghanstan.

[Billthedrill]

Yeah, especially in view of the multitudinous "Afghanistan isn't ready for democracy" stories we kept getting from the left. Those are the same folks trying to tell us that about Iraq, too.

[Boot Hill]

"Those are the same folks trying to tell us that about Iraq, too."

Like the saying goes, "Sometimes it's difficult to remember that our original goal was to drain the swamp, when you're up to our butts in alligators."

Well all those nattering nabobs of negativism are our "alligators". They are the fog and noise of battle for us here at home. Keep spreading the truth, shout the bastards down when you can and ignore them when you can't. But never let them turn you aside from the goal.

--Boot Hill

[AdmSmith]

A new twist on the jailhouse rock (heavy metal or full metal jacket?)

http://pakistantimes.net/2004/12/19/top4.htm

Afghan Jailbreak Injured Inmate to Be Interrogated
Pakistan Times Monitoring Report

KABUL (Afghanistan): An inmate injured in a deadly Afgha
n prison shootout will be questioned to determine if he and four of his comrades, all once suspected of belonging to al-Qaida, were trying to escape or were attempting to attack three American prisoners, the jail warden said Saturday.

Officials initially said four inmates were involved in the daylong fray at Kabul's notorious Pul-e Charkhi jail that left the four prisoners and four guards dead. But warden Abdul Salam Bakhshi said Saturday that another prisoner who was injured also was involved.

"We are going to question him, and he will tell us why they attacked, what was their target, whether they wanted to escape or what was their aim," Bakhshi said.

He said it was possible that the men were trying to get to the three Americans, who are being held in a different part of the prison while serving sentences of eight to 10 years for allegedly torturing Afghans while on a freelance hunt for terrorists.

Washington's role in Afghanistan

Jonathan Idema, Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo are seeking to overturn their convictions from a trial that embarrassed U.S. and NATO forces and sowed confusion about Washington's role in Afghanistan.

Idema's attorney, John Tiffany, said his client called him from the prison and said the Americans had been targeted for death by the inmates who attempted the jailbreak.

Idema claimed during his sometimes-bizarre trial that he was in daily contact with U.S. officials "at the highest level," including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's office. But the U.S. government has described him as a vigilante working on his own.

Recap

Afghan troops stormed the crumbling, overcrowded Pul-e Charkhi jail, which holds Taliban and al-Qaida suspects as well as common criminals, just after nightfall of Friday with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, ending the 10-hour standoff.

It began in the morning when the five inmates used razors to attack a guard leading them to morning prayers. They took his AK-47 rifle, then beat and stabbed him to death, Bakhshi said.

A gunbattle ensued that killed three other guards and two of the would-be escapees. Two other inmates, scavenged a second gun and barricaded themselves on the jail's war-damaged second floor, Bakhshi said. The fifth inmate was wounded.

The two men with guns then took potshots at hundreds of security personnel ringing the jail, keeping them from reaching three wounded soldiers inside the complex.

Surrender or die

Jail officials used a loudspeaker to warn prisoners to "surrender or die." The inmates responded with gunfire.

A patrol of four German armored personnel carriers from the International Security Assistance Force was dispatched to the scene in pre-dawn hours on Saturday, along with several U.S. liaison officers. But they deliberately took a hands-off approach, letting Afghan troops and police handle the incident.

The five inmates had all once been held in a northern jail run by Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, one of country's most powerful warlords, on suspicion of fighting alongside al-Qaeda and the Taliban, though they were all released earlier this year, suggesting they were not considered high-level militants. They were re-arrested in Kabul for unspecified common crimes several months ago.

The Pul-e-Charkhi

Pul-e Charkhi, located on the capital's outskirts, was the scene of summary executions under a series of Afghan regimes, most recently the hard-line Taliban.

In August, a U.N. human rights expert urged the immediate release of an estimated 725 Taliban fighters taken prisoner in 2001, saying they were living in conditions that violate "every standard of human rights."

The jail is unrelated to the detention facilities that the U.S. military runs for captured Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

As reported earlier, two armed inmates were holed up in Kabul's main prison after an escape attempt left at least six dead and eight wounded, including three soldiers who were pinned down.

About 200 police from around the city swarmed to Pule Charki prison, where four German armored personnel carriers from the NATO-run International Security Assistance Force waited outside as the standoff dragged on more than seven hours.

Several Afghan soldiers were deployed to the roof of the prison on the capital's outskirts

[Coop]

That an Iraqi in Afghanstan as a member of Al-Qadea means nothing other than there is a person who is Iraqi who is a member of Al-Qaeda fighting us in Afghanstan.

Curious how you simply glossed over two key points/questions I raised.

No, actually it's not curious. It's intentional. Take your nonsense elsewhere. Some of us are serious about fighting this radical Islamic threat.

[DainBramage]

Surely Idema is under better protection. His trial is still under appeal I think.

[Almondjoy]

Actually you too wrapped up in blaming to examine the facts.

In fact I know there was an Iraqi Al-Qaeda connection.. I know that the Liberals have tried with every means at there disposal to say that Saddam was against terrorism.

However, none of the above proves your point in the opening post.

Your debate skills leave much to question if you are going to associate the whole Iraq war to one single individual Iraqi waging war in Afghanstan.

[Coop]

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