Afghanistan: Hundreds of prisoners including Taliban terrorists escape from Charikar prison

Kabul [Afghanistan] August 15 (ANI): Hundreds of prisoners on Sunday fled from Afghanistan’s Charikar prison amid the Taliban’s drastic gains in the country.

Brigadier General Abdul Rauf Uruzgani and the provincial police chief informed that the prisoners escaped due to negligence on the part of the prison director. About 600 inmates, including many Taliban members, were held in the prison, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

A resident of Charikar also informed that the security forces had fired gunshots after the prisoners escaped the prison which caused panic among the people of the district.

Meanwhile, with the Taliban capturing key cities from the Afghan government, the terror group has released nearly 1000 criminals, drug traffickers among others from at least six cities it took control of in recent days.

“Most of them were sentenced on criminal charges–drug smuggling, kidnapping and armed robbery,” director of the prison administration Safiullah Jalalzai said.

At least 630 prisoners in Kunduz–among them 13 women and three foreigners–were released from jail by the Taliban. Of that figure, 180 were Taliban terrorists including 15 high-profile Taliban inmates who had been sentenced to death by the Afghan government, TOLO News reported.

The Taliban also released at least 350 prisoners in Nimroz province’s Zaranj city, including 40 Taliban inmates. However, the Afghanistan government has said that once the terrorists are captured, the prisoners will be arrested again.

In other recent developments, government buildings in the capital city of Kabul are also being evacuated as the Taliban has increased its offensives on the outskirts of the city, Afghan Journalist Harun Najafizada informed in a tweet. (ANI)