Rogue soldier escapes from Kandahar prison

KANDAHAR CITY (PAN): An Afghan soldier, who recently attacked foreign troops at the Kandahar Airfield, has escaped from prison in the southern province, officials said on Monday.

“The soldier, Lambar Khan, escaped from the detention centre with the support of another soldier,” Gen. Abdul Hamid, the 205th Military Corps commander, confirmed to Pajhwok Afghan News.

Both soldiers fled the jail after the alleged attacker was taken out of his cell, Gen. Hamid said, adding the detainee pretended taking medicine outside his room. A search has been mounted for the escapees.

Javed Faisal, the governor’s spokesman, verified the incident and said security forces had been directed to recapture the Afghan soldiers as soon as possible.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, said the attacker and his supporter had joined the fighters. He said the assailant was a member of the movement who had infiltrated the army.

A week back, one Slovakian soldier was killed and six others were wounded in the latest green-on-blue assault in southern Afghanistan. It was Slovakia’s first fatality in Afghanistan.

Belonging to eastern Laghman province, the rogue soldier had joined the 205th Military Corps two years ago.

Despite tight security arrangements, ISAF has lost scores of soldiers to insider attacks in Afghanistan, creating mistrust between the two sides. In 2012, 46 foreign troops were killed and 62 others wounded in such assaults.

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