Afghan forces encircle riot-torn prison

IHT: Security forces with tanks and heavy guns surrounded Kabul's main prison Monday as the authorities sought to resume negotiations with rioting prisoners but warned that they could use force.

Gunfire continued to ring out Monday morning from the Policharki jail on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, where officials say Al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners incited a riot by hundreds of inmates late Saturday and took control of much of the prison.

Hamidullah, a prison medic, said inmates had written in notes thrown to him from cell windows that five inmates had been killed and 30 wounded in two cellblocks in firing by police guards. Officials said they had no confirmation of any casualties.

Mohammed Qasim Hashimzai, the deputy justice minister, said prisoners had told negotiators Sunday that more than 20 inmates had been injured, but did not report any deaths. He said he could confirm only four wounded. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the different accounts.

Hashimzai said he wanted to end the standoff peacefully, but warned that the government could use force.

"We can take all these prisoners in one hour," he said as he traveled to the prison to attempt a resumption of negotiations. "But to prevent bloodshed, we are trying to negotiate."

The prison authorities had cut off water, electricity and food for the rioters, said Abdul Salaam Bakshi, chief of prisons in Afghanistan.

The unrest broke out late Saturday in Block 2, which houses about 1,300 of the prison's 2,000 inmates, including 350 Al Qaeda and Taliban members, after prisoners refused to put on new uniforms, delivered in response to a breakout last month by seven Taliban prisoners who had disguised themselves as visitors. Read more


db: It's not just Afghan forces surrounding the jail. How long will the trigger-happy Americans put up with this?