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The Sarposa Prison attack was a raid on the Sarposa Prison in
Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
,
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
by
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
insurgents on June 13, 2008. One of the largest attacks by Afghan insurgents, the raid freed 400-1000 prisoners.
Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...
,
Taliban Militants Storm Afghan Jail
, June 13, 2008 As of 2008, prison administration was overseen by Abdul Qabir.


Followed unrest

In May 2008, 200 prisoners announced a
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
and 47 of the captives physically stitched their mouths shut to protest their conditions. The strike ended when the
Afghan parliament The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also translated as the Supreme Council, () (also referred to as the Inner Shura) is the central governing body of the Taliban and Afghanistan. The Taliban uses a consensus decision-maki ...
agreed to review their detentions; as some of them had been held for two years without charge, or faced summary trials they felt were unfair.


Raid

On June 13, a
tanker truck Tanker may refer to: Transportation * Tanker, a tank crewman (US) * Tanker (ship), a ship designed to carry bulk liquids ** Chemical tanker, a type of tanker designed to transport chemicals in bulk ** Oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tan ...
approached the front gates of the prison at approximately 21:00 after nightfall and detonated explosives contained within itself, killing all Afghan police in the area. A second
suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...
was alleged to have walked to the back gates of the prison in the confusion, and detonated explosives he was carrying himself although later reports suggested the rear wall had not been breached. Insurgents fired rockets at the prison as the Taliban fighters broke in and a 30-minute battle began. Over the next thirty minutes, a team of thirty insurgents aboard motorcycles fired
AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...
s and rocket-propelled grenades into the prison. Several ran into the prison and began freeing prisonersSchmidt, Doug.
Saskatoon Star Phoenix ''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, ''Bridges''. It is also part of the canada.co ...

1,000 inmates escape from Afghan prison after blast
June 13, 2008 who fled through the breached walls, and disappeared into nearby
pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...
and grape groves.


Outcome

Wali Karzai, the brother of President
Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...
who is president of Kandahar's provincial council, said the prison held about 350 suspected Taliban fighters. He said "all" the prisoners escaped and that "There is no one left," he said. They were aided by minibuses waiting for them outside the prison during the attack. Some 390 of them were suspected Taliban fighters. Reports of people killed in the attack include: police officers, 8 prisoners and the 2 suicide bombers. Following reports of the mass-escape, Canadian troops stationed at
Kandahar Airfield Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport, also referred to as Kandahar International Airport ( ps, د کندهار نړيوال هوايي ډګر) and by some military officials as Kandahar Airfield, KAF) , is located about south-east of the city K ...
were deployed to secure the prisonPanetta, Alexander.
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

Kandahar prison attacked
June 13, 2008 and
ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...
troops began a door-to-door search through Kandahar seeking escapees.


Resulting conflicts

Troops were redeployed into the area following the prison break and have been involved in skirmishes that have, as of June 17, resulted in 20 Taliban Deaths in Tabin, 16 in Khohak and Arghandab, with 2 Afghan and 4 British soldiers killed in separate incidents,Afghan, NATO troops kill 36 Taliban near Kandahar
/ref> which lead up to the Battle of Arghandab.


See also

* Sarposa Prison tunneling escape


References

{{War in Afghanistan Conflicts in 2008 2008 crimes in Afghanistan Battles of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Prisons in Afghanistan History of Kandahar Prison escapes Taliban attacks June 2008 events in Asia