2 guards killed in Maimana prison attack

MAIMANA (Pajhwok): Militants attacked the central jail in this capital city of northern Faryab province, setting free two inmates after a brief clash that left two guards and one attacker dead, an official said on Friday.

A third prison guard was injured in the assault that occurred around 9pm last night, police official Col. Muhammad Naeem told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said the attack on the prison in Maimana involved five armed insurgents and the remaining four fled after a brief clash with the prison guards.

The dead body of the attacker had been shifted to the Afghan-Turk Hospital in Maimana, he said.  The fleeing prisoners also took away two guns from the guards.

A cousin of one of the slain guards, Mohammad Khan, also a police officer, said he phoned his relative moments before the attack and asked him to come home, but the cousin replied he would come tomorrow.

Khan later phoned again to his relative, but someone else picked his phone and said the guard had died. He said his cousin was newly-wed and had been serving at the prison since a year.

Local residents said they were deeply concerned about the attack that occurred in an area where the police headquarters, the intelligence department and the governor’s house are located.

“We were dining when we heard rocket fire followed by gunfire,” said resident Atta Mohammad, whose house is 50 metres from the prison. “We got scared and gathered in a single of our home,” he said.

A doctor at the civil hospital in Miamana, Samir Inayat, said they had been delivered two dead bodies at the facility.

The Taliban Abdul Rauf was also killed in the incident, he said.

Nearly 700 prisoners are held in the jail and they include more than 200 inmates, who have been detained for links with the insurgents.

rm/ma

Visits: 3