Posted on 06/13/2008 2:44:49 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Jail Blast Frees Hundreds Of Taliban
Updated:22:34, Friday June 13, 2008 Hundreds of Taliban militants have escaped from a prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, after a co-ordinated suicide bomb and rocket attack tore through the jail's defences.
Nearly all of an estimated 1,150 prisoners fled when a Taliban suicide bomber blew open the main gate, officials said.
Eyewitnesses reported that the fighters fired several rockets at various parts of the mud-built prison.
"All the prisoners escaped. There is no one left," said Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai and the president of Kandahar's provincial council.
Militants first exploded a water tanker near the entrance to the gate of the prison, then several suicide bombers entered and blew themselves up, he added.
A shopkeeper who sells vegetables near the prison said he saw escaped prisoners run toward pomegranate and grape groves that lie behind it.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
Afghan official: 870 inmates escaped from prison
NOOR KHAN and JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080614/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan;_ylt=AoGi9gtnWwzrFvCNN2FlhVOs0NUE
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - U.S. and NATO troops aided Afghan forces with reconnaissance in a hunt Saturday for 870 inmates who escaped prison after a sophisticated Taliban assault that even NATO conceded was a success for the militants.
A roadside bomb, meanwhile, killed four U.S. Marines sent to southwestern Afghanistan to help train the country’s fledgling police. The deadliest attack on American forces this year came one day after the U.S. defense secretary highlighted the fact that more American and allied troops were killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq last month.
Afghanistan’s deputy interior minister, Munid Mangal, said about 1,000 prisoners were housed in Kandahar’s Sarposa Prison when dozens of militants on motorbikes attacked the facility late Friday. Seven police and several prisoners died in the assault, he said.
One suicide bomber detonated a tanker truck full of explosives at the prison gate while a second bomber blasted another escape route through a back wall. Rockets fired from inside the prison’s courtyard collapsed an upper floor.
The police chief of Kandahar province, Sayed Agha Saqib, said 390 Taliban prisoners were among the 870 inmates who escaped. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force first said Saturday that 1,100 prisoners had escaped but later revised the figure to around 900.
The NATO force’s chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco, conceded that the militants pulled off a “very successful operation.”
“We admit it,” Branco said. “Their guys did the job properly in that sense, but it does not have a strategic impact. We should not draw any conclusion about the deterioration of the military operations in the area. We should not draw any conclusion about the strength of the Taliban.”
NATO was providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to help track fleeing militants, Branco said. U.S. forces helped transport Afghan army personnel to the scene “so that they could catch the prisoners who escaped,” said U.S. Capt. Christian Patterson.
There were no indications that the militants received help from the inside, but the prison’s chief official, Abdul Qadir, was placed under investigation for possible involvement, said Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai, a deputy minister at the Justice Ministry.
Afghan officials warned that the Taliban essentially boosted its force by 400 fighters — including several thwarted suicide bombers — because of the prison break, but Branco said NATO officials didn’t think it would change the military situation.
A man who claimed to be one of the militants who escaped, Abdul Nafai, called an Associated Press reporter and said the insurgents had minibuses waiting outside the prison during the attack and that dozens of militants fled in the vehicles. Other eyewitnesses and officials said the militants fled on foot into pomegranate and grape groves behind the prison.
Hashimzai said the jail did not meet international minimum standards for a prison. The Kandahar facility was not built as a prison but had been modified into one, he said.
“Plans are under way to renovate all the prisons around the country,” said Hashimzai. “Kandahar was one of them, but unfortunately what happened last night is cause for concern.”
Kandahar was the Taliban’s former stronghold and its province has been the scene of fierce fighting the past two years between insurgents and NATO troops, primarily from Canada and the United States.
The Marines attacked in the roadside bombing in nearby Farah province were from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment based in Twentynine Palms, Calif. They arrived in Afghanistan earlier this year and were sent to southern and western Afghanistan to train police. Four Marines were killed and one was wounded in the blast.
The bombing comes one day after Defense Secretary Robert Gates told his counterparts in Europe that for the first time, the monthly total of American and allied combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded the toll in Iraq during May.
The four deaths bring to at least 44 the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count. No more than two U.S. personnel had been killed in any one attack in Afghanistan this year, according to the AP tally.
Oh wait, Kandahar’s in Afghanistan, isn’t it. Whoops.
Oh well, close enough....
And .. I predict that this is exactly what will happen if we move the current detainees from Cuba to prisons in the USA.
Welcome to the real world .. these killers have their supporters here and they would love to break all ALL THE TERRORISTS loose in the USA.
For all those who want to close Gitmo .. they better think about it again. We have a secure place now .. but it will not be secure if they move the prisoners to the USA.
Just imagine .. a group of terrorists hijacks a town near the prison and threatens to kill everyone in the town (or actually kills a few of them [probably family of the guards] to show they mean business) unless we release the terrorists.
That is not a scenario I even want to think about .. but if we don’t “imagine” that happening .. then we’re not paying attention to how the terrorists operate.
THESE DAMN LIBERALS ARE GOING TO GET A LOT OF PEOPLE KILLED.
Somebody needs to change McCain’s mind about closing Gitmo. Closing it will only strengthen the terrorists.
ARE WE THAT STUPID .. OR COWARDLY ..??????
A person who received an abortion is as bad as the Taliban? I’m sure you are also not voting for McCain because he isn’t the perfect conservative either.
Make no mistake, Abortion and the war on terror are one in the same.
Sigh ...
However, your last sentence does need repeating, as it should be common sense during war against an enemmy who does not fight by the "globally acceptable rules of war".
Captured prisoners should be interrogated to determine innocence or guilt — execute the guilty and release the innocent..
I see you have a problem with me insulting liberals. After looking at your profile page, and seeing at the bottom that you are mostly liberal, (100% liberal in the ethics department), I can see why you’d be upset over me insulting liberals. You say that pro-lifers don’t deserve to live. How do you propose to kill us?
Make no mistake, Abortion and the war on terror are one in the same.
I'm not quite sure what you're saying here, would you mind clarifying it a little?
I HOPE that you aren't comparing pro-life groups to the Taliban or otherwise trying to marginalize the pro-life movement (like most non-conservatives do), but I'm not sure.
The same folks who support the taliban while condemning the heroes of 1776, support murdering babies, the sick, the injured, and the elderly under the guise of “right to choose” and “right to die.” Make no mistake, they want us all dead, and they don’t much care how they do it.
Again, I'll say it for a second time. That post was extremely stupid, as you compared people for abortion or "right to die" in the same boat as the Taliban. That is not insulting liberals, and if you think it is, you need to go back to insults 101.
I do not how far your brain decay goes, but to compare them two is like comparing apples and oranges. Your post had not a single thing to do with anything involving the Taliban escaping ... instead you decided to try to make a pro-life point by "insulting liberals" as you call it in an inappropriate post.
Now you decide to launch a personal attack against me using a "MY SPACE Blog form" as proof as I am a liberal.
Again, what does that have to do with the Taliban escaping the jail?
Is that where you go to quote your outdated statistics on your profile? Myspace blog forms?
When I am 75 years old and have major health problems, I'm not going to sit around hooked up to machines. I want the plug pulled. I do not want a quality of life where I'm being kept alive by someones medical/science project.
My comment about pro-lifers on my profile reads after the words Pet Peeves:
People who feel abortion is wrong no mater what. There are plenty of times when abortion is needed, rape victims, health reasons etc... If you feel there is never an acceptable time to have an abortion, even if you are a victim of rape or for health reasons, you do not deserve to be breathing the same air as me and your opinion is just that, an opinion. Unfortunately, everyone has one.
Abortion is not an acceptable form of everyday birth control. Abortion is acceptable if rape, or a health reason is involved. If feeling like that is a liberal, so be it. I consider having that thought process as American, Correct, and Right and Moral, to hell with you if you don't.
If a medical reason is present and an abortion is needed to save a life, how does that not fit in with the pro-life theme?
BTW, you suck at insulting liberals. Your post was not amusing, and I'd rather correspond with a pile of rocks than with you ever again.
This is my only post replying to this response, the original thread was about Taliban fleeing from jail. I was not the one who added pointless non-issues to the actual issue at hand, I just merely brought them up.
As the final word, DO NOT EVER AGAIN put words in my mouth that I did not speak, I have much respect for the pro-life movement, as abortion is not proper birth control and is cruel. Saying that, I just can't stand quacks (extremists) -[ this includes you ] in the pro-life movement. Go pound sand.
Look again. I was not the one who compared anyone to the taliban. One of your fellow pro-aborts did that, by comparing our founding fathers to the taliban. And that, dear troll, is what I was referring to in my original post. I was pointing out the fact that those of you who are liberal on one front tend to be liberal on all fronts. You support abortion and the taliban.
How out of date can your profile page be? A month ago, you bragged about your liberal credentials, but now you’re a conservative? I doubt that.
You liberals are all alike. You deny your support of specific liberal causes, but then you go out of your way to support them. “I don’t support abortion, but....” and then you talk about how necessary it is. “I don’t support the taliban, but...” and then you say they shouldn’t be punished because they’re just like the Americans of 1776.
According to your own profile page, you’re a liberal troll. I believe you’re right about that. And I don’t believe that’s outdated.
Well, I'll have to agree with you on that.
- On 9/11/01, the Taliban killed approximately 3000 innocent Americans.
- TODAY, abortionists will kill approximately 3500 innocent Americans and they have been doing this EVERY DAY for 35 years.
When I am 75 years old and have major health problems, I'm not going to sit around hooked up to machines. I want the plug pulled. I do not want a quality of life where I'm being kept alive by someones medical/science project.
Hey, we're all dying. Food and water are just "artificial" means of staying alive. If you really want to prove your point, why not quit eating and drinking TODAY.
There are plenty of times when abortion is needed, rape victims
So, you think that it is acceptable to kill a child because of the crimes of its father? That sounds A LOT like the Taliban to me.
BTW, you suck at insulting liberals.
Well, this is a CONSERVATIVE forum, so liberal trolls usually don't last too long. But we do practice whenever the opportunity presents itself.
I can't help but wonder since you've only been trolling here about a month, what other names have you used?
Yes. I'll be damned if I would ever carry a kid if the father was the man who raped me. I'm not the only one who feels like that. If you think that is the Taliban, your misinformed. The Taliban would kill the victim for being raped in the first place, you should know that as you seem to be an expert about the War on Terror.
I noticed you conveniently left out the part dealing with abortion and a medical emergency.
Hey, we're all dying. Food and water are just "artificial" means of staying alive. If you really want to prove your point, why not quit eating and drinking TODAY.
Great thought for someone pro-life. You show your regards for pro-life brilliantly.
I'd love for you to be in the situation where your wife or daughter is raped and forced to carry the kid through birth. I'm sure your opinion would change, as it does most of the time when one is dealing with it "up close and personal" as opposed to it being a thought in someones head.
I'm a troll for following most Republicans philosophy on abortion. I guess in order not to be considered a troll, one has to agree with every conservative view that is presented. To disagree automatically means you are a troll or a liberal.
I'm a moderate Republican with Libertarian leanings. I like having my own opinion of matters, as the whole liberal/conservative divide is just another two groups of sheep without independent thought. To bad I voted Republican the previous two elections and will again this election as it is the lesser of two evils. Thats what every election is about.
I do spell out my views on my profile. I do not claim to be a conservative. It's funny though, since my views are half and half, I'm automaticly a liberal. It's kinda like Obama, he's half white, half black, but is definitely 100% black. Great logic.
To bad I still agree with the fact abortion is necessary in times of rape or medical need. To bad the law says I'm correct. To bad the law will NEVER change regarding abortion involving a rape or medical issue.
Why don't you actually campaign for something worthwhile, (ex. outlawing abortion for everyday birth control)?
Take up your point with someone who is using abortion as birth control, as my two reasons for why it should be allowed in certain circumstances are legitimate reasons.
Once again what does this subject have to do with the Taliban escaping out of a jail? Answer that.
On 9/11/01, the Taliban killed approximately 3000 innocent Americans.
Who brought down the towers again? The Taliban did. I see. What dimension did this happen in. It was al-Qaida knuckle head.
This is why this thread is not about the original subject matter, as you are completely misinformed about the issue and have little to no knowledge about the War on Terror. Go pound sand with the Taliban.
Last weekend I attended a wedding where the flower girl was the nearly three year old daughter of a rape victim. I have no doubt that a person like yourself will doubt the validity of the story, so here is the thread that I posted three years ago this week about it:
Prayer Request for Rape Victim
I'm a troll for following most Republicans philosophy on abortion. I guess in order not to be considered a troll, one has to agree with every conservative view that is presented.
You see, this IS NOT a Republican forum, it is a CONSERVATIVE forum. Therefore, a liberal Republican is a troll here.
I do spell out my views on my profile. I do not claim to be a conservative.
They you DO NOT belong here, Free Republic is a forum for CONSERVATIVES.
Hey non-conservative newbie, you don't have the slightest idea what I have knowledge about.
YOU are a self-identified NON-CONSERVATIVE who doesn't seem to know a damn thing.
If you can find a SINGLE post where I have EVER downplayed the War on Terror, then I will apologize. However, unlike YOU, I realize that there are multiple issues facing this nation and terrorism is only one of them. You are nothing but a shill for McCain, before him you were probably supporting Rooty and four years ago you probably wanted Lieberman.
So newbie, why don't YOU go "pound sand."
When did I ever say I support the Taliban? Your an idiot plain and simple. The crap you are trying to put into my words isn't worth enough to wipe my butt with.
The Taliban deserve to be executed on site. So does al-Qaida.
A month ago, you bragged about your liberal credentials, but now you’re a conservative? I doubt that.
You must be mistaking me with someone else, as I never once bragged about "liberal credentials". Is your brain decay getting worst?
“I don’t support the taliban, but...” and then you say they shouldn’t be punished because they’re just like the Americans of 1776.
I never said such a thing. What planet are you on? Uranus? When did I say this?
How am I liberal troll? Do tell me? Because I disagree with one conservative view?
Just like I said before. This is an issue kinda like Obama. He's half white, half black, so he's all Black. I have one liberal leaning view (right to abortion in a medical or rape emergency) and I'm a full fledged liberal.
To bad you don't live around me, we'd have a fascinating conversation one day. I do apologize if you did not compare the Taliban to abortionists.
I do live near where you claim to live. But I wouldn't advise you to follow through on that.
You signed up here only a month ago, and have posted your liberal credentials on your profile page. You've bragged about your liberal leanings, and bloodlust. You said that anyone who isn't pro-abortion doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as you. I guess that attitude is associated with your 100% liberal rating in the ethics department. You must fancy yourself a Hillary protégé. But you flatter yourself. She doesn't telegraph her moves with clumsy, thinly veiled threats.
Þ
Sheesh, back off. There’s no liberal trolling from this poster.
When a liberal troll expresses a desire to kill, and says they want to see me face to face, I will not back off. I will face that head on. I will not pull the liberal tactic of burying my head in the sand. You’re welcome to do that if you wish, but please don’t stand in the way of those of us who stand up to the very people you’re afraid to stand up to. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
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