Jail stormed: Militants launch major attack on prison in DI Khan

Dozens of inmates escape; curfew clamped on the city.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN:

Grenade wielding gunmen battled Pakistani security forces during a sophisticated midnight attack on a major prison holding hundreds of Taliban and other militants, the police said on Monday.

Fighting continued into the early hours of Tuesday and security forces said they had imposed a curfew on Dera Ismail Khan.

Up to 40 gunmen wearing police uniforms launched their attack by blowing up the electricity line to the prison and detonating heavy explosions that breached the outer walls, said provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas.

“It’s completely dark in there. We don’t know what’s going on but there is fighting,” he said.

The militants fought their way inside using rocket propelled grenades and machineguns, district police chief Sohail Khalid said.

DI Khan Commissioner Mushtaq Jadoon said dozens of prisoners had escaped. “The Taliban have loudspeakers and they are calling the names of their friends,” he said.

The gunmen also took over a nearby house and hospital, holding the residents hostage as they fired on the police from the rooftops and laid ambushes for reinforcements.

Constable Gul Mohammed said he was rushing to the scene when he was challenged by two young boys holding rifles.

“They told me to stop. I told them I am a policeman, and that’s when they opened fire,” he said. Mohammed was shot three times. Police said there were other small groups of gunmen in the streets leading to the prison.

The number of casualties was unclear because the fighting was ongoing. Police said they had called for military reinforcements.

The prison houses around 5,000 prisoners. Around 250 of them are Pakistani Taliban and members of banned sectarian groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).

Last week, militants stormed the headquarters of the Pakistani military intelligence service in the southern town of Sukkur. Over the weekend, around 40 people were killed in twin bombings in the town of Parachinar.

Pakistani militants have launched successful raids on prisons several times before. Last year, nearly 400 prisoners were freed when the Taliban attacked a prison in the northern town of Bannu.

After that attack, militants told Reuters they were helped by insiders in the security services.

An inquiry later found there were far fewer guards on duty than there should have been and those who were there lacked sufficient ammunition.

The attack comes the day before Pakistan’s lawmakers are due to choose a president and two days before a major Shia festival, which security officials have warned could be attacked.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2013.