Pakistan : Taliban Jail Attack Was Intelligence Failure

Islamabad, April 17, IRNA – Pakistani officials have said that Taliban attack on a prison in the country’s northwest was a total intelligence failure. According to officials nearly 150 Taliban attackers stormed the central jail in the city of Bannu early Sunday and freed 384 prisoners, mostly militants. Bannu is a main city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and located near the North Waziristan tribal region. The Taliban had arrived in 50 vehicles and they continued operation for two hours and went back undetected. Officials said that they went back to the tribal region. Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that four senior officials, including head of the jail, have been removed and a five-member committee has started investigation. Hussain told a news conference in Peshawar that a total failure of the intelligence could be blamed for the jail break. He said it is very strange that the Taliban arrived in dozens of vehicles, continued operation for two hours and went back without any resistance. He said the committee will also investigate if the jail attack has any link with the Taliban attacks in Afghanistan. A preliminary report from the provincial home department in its report also blamed intelligence failure for the Taliban brazen attack. Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and its spokesman said that they had chalked out the plan for several moths. He said that several important Taliban commanders were freed during the attack. The report said that mobile phones were also being used by the inmates without any check by the jail authorities. According to the report, the prisoners also include Adnan Rashid, mastermind of an attack on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2003, and a Taliban commander Nooruddin. Meanwhile Interior Minister Rehman Malik Monday said that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was behind for the Bannu jail attack. Speaking to media here, Malik said that Jail police was not armed, adding that a new policy had been devised following the attacks. Malik said that the Taliban were professional killers and they kill the people despite being Muslims. He said that terrorists in Afghanistan have become active again and they are committing violent acts./end