Was Bannu jailbreak an inside job?
—AFP Photo
BANNU: A militant commander who helped plan an assault on a jail in Bannu on Sunday which freed nearly 400 prisoners said his group had inside information.
The Pakistani Taliban said it was behind the brazen assault by militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles.
A police official said most of those who escaped from the jail in the northwestern town of Bannu were militants, including one on death row for trying to assassinate former president Pervez Musharraf.
“We had maps of the area and we had complete maps and plans of the jail as well,” the commander, a senior member of the Taliban, told Reuters.
“All I have to say is we have people who support us in Bannu. It was with their support that this operation was successful.”
It was not possible to independently verify that account.
But the inspector general for prisons in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Arshad Majeed, did not rule out collusion.
“It is possible that the attackers had help from the inside. We cannot confirm that but we are investigating to see what happened,” he said.
The jail break, described as one of the biggest in Pakistan’s history, underscored Pakistan’s struggle to tame militancy over a decade.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is seen as the biggest threat, staging suicide bombings and attacks on military compounds.
The Bannu attackers arrived in a convoy of vehicles, blocking off all access points to the jail before firing rocket-propelled grenades at the black, metal gates of the prison and forcing their way in.
They moved through the prison quickly facing little resistance until they found Adnan Rasheed, who took part in one of the attempts to kill Musharraf, and then freed him and 383 others.
“We had set one hour as the target time for our mission. This included entering the jail, breaking out our people, getting back into our vehicles and reaching a safe spot,” said the commander, who asked not to be named.
Citing preliminary investigations into the prison break, Majeed said 150 guards were supposed to be on duty when the militants struck, but only 36 were.
Even the ones that showed up to work were poorly equipped to deal with the onslaught by dozens of militants.
Standing outside the prison, where over 900 were held before the escape, constable Firdous Khan showed a Reuters reporter the only AK-47 assault rifle magazine he had.
“This emptied out pretty quickly. Then I was out,” he said.
The Taliban commander, based in North Waziristan, said 150 fighters, including foreigners, launched the prison assault after months of training.
“We spent 20 million rupees ($220,000) on this mission,” he said.
One of them, Zahir Shah, 29, described the chaos following the attack and why he decided to reject freedom after escaping.
“They took us with them to the main gate. Outside there were many cars. I think 20 cars in all. They shoved me into one of the vehicles and drove off really fast,” he said as he trembled outside the prison before turning himself in.
“I could be out in a few years for good behaviour. I don’t want to ruin my chances.”
We are not only accomplice and incompetent but have time and again shown that majority of us get tempted very easily and resort to all sort of unfair means ,shortcuts etc.Its not only police or Government who is responsible for such a fiasco or lawlessness .We all are the contributors as we prefer to stay silent on so many wrong doings happening all around us .
In words of Zaid Hamid….It was a conspiracy of CIA, RAW, MOSAD…lol..
It is highly ironical that even after number of incidents of security breaches, including one at abbotabad, our security and law-enforcement agencies have not learnt lessons, yet. One thing is crystal clear that such a planned and organised attack which must have taken months for its planing had some help from the wolfs in sheep clothing. How could it possible that the intelligence agencies did not have any knowledge about the incident.
We will never be able to promote peace in country unless such scenarios remain happening.
Acutally its not any one's fault other than the government. The guards were poorly equiped . Its like an old pistol VS AK-47 , so what do u guys expect from guards.
way pakistan army or helicopter was not used or called…good work keep spending money on the nuc !!!!
I wonder,do the Pakistani people really divide them as good terrorists & bad terrorists.
Sounds like a western movie
Definately an inside job.
Pakistan must distroy these barbaric criminal talibans. They are danger to the entire world peace and they must be dealt with all mighty force. I believe in using drones to get rid of these criminals.
Why do they keep all these high profile prisoners at one place? I think there is a term called high security jail for such persons. And then they are illegally allowed the use of cell phones and mucho visitors so they can plan their way out easily. Looks like nothing is done right in any institution.
And you say Pakistan is not a failed state!! Lawlessness in Pakistan – a doom for the people!! When will you guys learn!!!
Every high profile prisoner had an outside help, and vice versa.
THe question that U.S asked after the OBL fiasco was: Are you accomplice or incompetent?
For the first time I wonder whether our military and intelliegence is really incompetent.
And . . . if there was an inside help then they were also an accomplice.
Who is not surprised by this attack at all? One and only Mr. malik!
Tragedy for higher ups and Comedy for Police? OR otherwise
Every high profile crime commited in the country has support of inside people.