Eleven including 4 cops killed as militants attack central jail in DI Khan
The jail is considered one of the largest jails of the province, as over 4000 prisoners are detaine
DERA ISMAIL KHAN (Dunya News) - At least eleven people including four policemen, four insurgents and three civilians were killed while nine others were injured in the brazen attack in Dera Ismail Khan.
The security sources said the jail is considered one of the largest jails of the province, as over 4000 prisoners are detained here. The security sources added as many as 150 terrorists have been kept in custody at this DI Khan jail.
A curfew was clamped in the area after the militant engaged the security forces in gunfight. The area plunged into darkness as militants destroyed electricity transformers. Deputy Commissioner said that the curfew was imposed to avoid any damage to public.
As per details insurgents wearing police uniforms and armed with mortars attacked a prison holding hundreds of militants in Dera Ismail Khan jail and escaped with prisoners after a gunfight with security forces, officials said.
"Security forces have entered the prison and cleared the building after which we have started counting prisoners with flashlights as there is no power in the prison and it is making our job difficult," Abbas said.
The jail holds up to 5,000 prisoners including some 300 militants involved in attacks on security forces and sectarian killings, he added.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid claimed responsibility for the attack, saying 150 militants took part and around 300 prisoners were freed.
The attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan began around midnight with a huge explosion, said intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. A local resident, Sharafat Khan, said the blast was so loud "it rattled every house in the neighborhood."
The militants then set off a series of smaller explosions to destroy the prison s boundary wall, said the intelligence officials. At least eight attackers wearing police uniforms stormed inside the prison once the walls fell. Security forces engaged the attackers, who were chanting "God is great" and "Long live the Taliban."
The militants also fired rocket-propelled grenades and lobbed hand grenades during the attack, said the deputy commissioner of Dera Ismail Khan, Khan Mushtaq Jadoon.
"Right now some of the attackers are inside the jail and others have occupied two buildings outside," said Jadoon. "We are going to launch a major operation soon. The city has been sealed. The army is leading the operation."
Khalid Abbas, head of the prison department in surrounding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the jail held 40 "high profile" prisoners.
"We are not sure if any of them escaped," Abbas said.
The militants are reportedly calling out specific prisoners by name using a microphone and amplifier, said Jadoon. Authorities caught six prisoners trying to flee the city by car, he said.
Officials received a letter threatening an attack on the prison, but they didn t expect it so soon, said Abbas. Army troops encircled the prison and exchanged fire with the attackers, he said, but security forces were having trouble distinguishing the militants in the dark because of their police uniforms.
One prison official, Gul Mohammad, said he had just walked out of the prison at the end of his shift when two militants armed with AK-47s shot him. There are other officials who have been wounded, he said from a hospital bed, although the casualty toll was unclear.
