Five Killed in Al Qaeda Jailbreak in Kabul

[American Patriot]

KABUL (*******) - Three Afghan prison guards and two prisoners were killed in a jail break attempt by al Qaeda inmates Friday and a shoot-out was going on between police and another two, the chief of Kabul's Pul-i-Charki prison told *******.

The prisoners killed by guards were Pakistani and Iraqi al Qaeda members who had been arrested in Kabul by Afghan security forces, prison chief Abdul Salam Bakhshi said.

[Aerosoul]

Hmmm...reminiscent of Qala-i-Jangi in Mazari Sharif. I just read about the Mazri uprising in 01 in a book about TF Dagger. Lindh was AQ not Tali and is belived to have led the prison uprising and was present when they tortured and killed the CIA SOG member that was interrogating the terrorists.

Anyway though, any more info on this yet?

[Sayeret]

Here's some more information on the incident.


Afghan jail siege ends with at least nine dead

By Yousuf Azimy

KABUL, Dec 17 (*******) - Afghan soldiers killed two prisoners holed up in Kabul's Pul-i-Charki jail on Friday after a day-long siege that started when a group of inmates identified as al Qaeda killed their guards in an attempted jailbreak.

At least nine people, including five guards and police, were killed at the sprawling Soviet-era prison complex on the outskirts of the capital.

"The two prisoners resisting were killed by Afghan National Army soldiers. The issue is now over," said General Zaher Azimi, spokesman for the Ministry of Defence.

Two other prisoners were killed earlier when a group of prisoners attempted to break out of the jail soon after dawn. Three of the dead prisoners were believed to be Pakistanis and the fourth an Iraqi.


Trooper Zabiullah told a ******* reporter outside the prison's main gate how he and two other soldiers had entered the building where the gunmen were hiding in a final assault.


"We went inside, there was three of us. One of us was wounded but the two Pakistanis were killed. The operation is over," Zabiullah said minutes after a burst of small-arms fire inside the prison compound.


An explosion was heard soon after, but police said it was a tank shell fired in jubilation.


The escape attempt began in the same cell block where three American vigilantes are serving long jail terms for illegally detaining and torturing Afghans in a freelance war on terror.


The two prisoners who survived the initial firefight fled to a workshop in the compound and holed up there for almost 12 hours.


Police and militia forces armed with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers surrounded the building, but authorities finally ordered a rapid reaction force, supported by two tanks, to bring the siege to an end.


AFGHAN OPERATION


Afghan troops deployed around the prison and two armoured vehicles belonging to the German contingent of the NATO-led peacekeeping force stationed in Kabul stood by on the deserted plain outside the prison walls.


Some peacekeepers were seen entering the prison, but spokesmen for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said none of their troops were involved in the operation.


Abdul Salam Bakhshi, chief of the prison, described to reporters how one prisoner had knifed a guard to death and shot two more officers with a rifle taken from the dead man.


The initial firefight took place on the ground floor of a cell block where former U.S. Green Beret Jonathan "Jack" Idema, another ex-serviceman, Brent Bennett, and Emmy award-winning documentary film maker Edward Caraballo are being held.


Police and prison officials speculated that the al Qaeda prisoners may have wanted to kill the three Americans, whose cells were on the first floor.


Idema and Bennett were sentenced to ten years in prison, while Caraballo was given eight years by an Afghan court last September.


Afghan authorities in September freed 368 Pakistanis who were fighting for the Taliban when U.S. and Afghan opposition forces drove the hardline Islamist militia from power in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.


Inmates released from Pul-i-Charki last September, said the jail was a vast improvement on the notorious Shiberghan prison in the north, where they had been held by forces loyal to General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a feared ethnic Uzbek commander.


Dostum's forces are accused of killing hundreds of prisoners or allowing them to die because of overcrowding, in the aftermath of the defeat of the Taliban.


In September 2002, Dostum issued a statement acknowledging that "approximately 200 prisoners died, but mostly of wounds suffered in the fighting, disease, suffocation, suicide and general weakness."

http://cnn.aimtoday.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0002/20041217/1025860739.htm&photoid=20041217KAB101

[Aerosoul]

Hmm..thanks guys.

[HarleyDoc]

Hmmm...reminiscent of Qala-i-Jangi in Mazari Sharif. I just read about the Mazri uprising in 01 in a book about TF Dagger. Lindh was AQ not Tali and is belived to have led the prison uprising and was present when they tortured and killed the CIA SOG member that was interrogating the terrorists.


To set the record straight, Robin Moore was just plain wrong in most of what he wrote about the Mazar uprising. The worst error was to state that Mike Spann had his legs broken and was tortured to death. This is complete BS and an injustice to Mike and his family. The truth is that Mike was killed in the first few minutes of the fight by a gunshot wound to the back of his head after he was swarmed by the prisoners.

I doubt that the Lindh punk was a leader in the uprising, although he certainly had a part in it. I blame him more for not admitting he was an American when he was being questioned by Spann. If he had, Mike and Dave probably would have left with him immediately and thus would not have been present when the uprising occurred. I'm curious to see what will beome of David Hicks, currently of Guantanamo fame, since he was there with Lindh when it all went down.

[Aerosoul]

Harley, you serious? Seemed to me like Moore had the facts but I don't know anything about the issue other than what I have read.

[HarleyDoc]

Dead serious. I was on the QRF that went in to get Mike and Dave on 25 Nov 01. 3 days later I put Mike in a body bag, and that evening escorted him to a chopper where he began his final ride home.

I don't know where Moore got his "facts" from, but he should have done a better job of determing their veracity before going to print. It pisses me off to think that one day Mike's kids might read that book and think that was how their Dad died.

[Aerosoul]

Wow Harley didn't realize that. And also, you were there so I'm sure you know more than Moore....I should have known. Moore....sounds like Michael Moore...

Anyways, thanks for the insight Doc, 'preciate it.