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Taliban tunnel more than 480 out of Afghan prison

An Afghan policemen takes a look at the opening of tunnel at the main prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan which prisoners escaped through Monday, April 25, 2011. Taliban insurgents dug a more than 1,050-foot (320-meter) tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 450 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, officials and the insurgents said Monday. (AP-Yonhap News)
An Afghan policemen takes a look at the opening of tunnel at the main prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan which prisoners escaped through Monday, April 25, 2011. Taliban insurgents dug a more than 1,050-foot (320-meter) tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 450 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, officials and the insurgents said Monday. (AP-Yonhap News)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) _ During the long Afghan winter, Taliban insurgents were apparently busy underground.

The militants say they spent more than five months building a 1,050-foot tunnel to the main prison in southern Afghanistan, bypassing government checkpoints, watch towers and concrete barriers topped with razor wire.

The diggers finally poked through Sunday and spent 4 1/2 hours ferrying away more than 480 inmates without a shot being fired, according to the Taliban and Afghan officials. Most of the prisoners were Taliban militants.

Accounts of the extraordinary prison break, carried out in the dead of night, suggest collusion with prison guards, officials or both.

Following a recent wave of assassinations here, the breakout underscores the weakness of the Afghan government in the south despite an influx of international troops, funding and advisers. It also highlights the spirit and resourcefulness of the Taliban despite months of battlefield setbacks.

Officials at Sarposa prison in Kandahar city, the one-time Taliban capital, say they discovered the breach at about 4 a.m.

Monday, a half-hour after the Taliban say they had gotten all the prisoners safely to a house at the other end of the tunnel.

Government officials corroborated parts of the Taliban account.

They confirmed the tunnel was dug from a house within shooting distance of the prison and that the inmates had somehow gotten out of their locked cells and disappeared into the night. Kandahar remains relatively warm even during winter and the ground would not have frozen while insurgents were digging the tunnel.

Police showed reporters the roughly hewn hole that was punched through the cement floor of the prison cell. The opening was about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, and the tunnel dropped straight down for about 5 feet (1.5 meters) and then turned in the direction of the house where it originated.

But access was denied to the tunnel itself, and it was unclear how the Taliban were able to move so many men out of the prison so quickly. Also unclear was why guards would not have heard the diggers punch through the cement floor, and whether they supervise the inside of the perimeters at night.

A man who claimed he helped organize those inside the prison told The Associated Press in a phone call that he and his accomplices obtained copies of the keys for the cells ahead of time from ``friends.'' He did not say who those friends were.

``There were four or five of us who knew that our friends were digging a tunnel from the outside,'' said Mohammad Abdullah, who said he had been in Sarposa prison for two years after being captured in nearby Zhari district with a stockpile of weapons.

``Some of our friends helped us by providing copies of the keys.

When the time came at night, we managed to open the doors for friends who were in other rooms.''

He said the diggers broke through Sunday morning and that the inmates in the cell covered the hole with a prayer rug until the middle of the night, when they started quietly opening the doors of cells and ushering prisoners in small groups into the tunnel.

He said they woke the inmates up four or five at a time to sneak them out quietly. They also didn't want too many people crawling through the narrow and damp tunnel at one time because of worries that they would run out of oxygen, Abdullah said.

The AP reached Abdullah on a phone number supplied by a Taliban spokesman. His account could not immediately be verified.

The Taliban statement said it took 4 1/2 hours for all the prisoners to clear the tunnel, with the final inmates emerging into the house at 3:30 a.m. They then used a number of vehicles to shuttle the escaped convicts to secure locations.

Reporters were not allowed into that building, but officials pointed out the mud-walled compound with a brown gate and shops on either side.

The city's police mounted a massive search operation for the escaped convicts. They shot and killed two inmates who tried to evade capture and re-arrested another 26, said Tooryalai Wesa, the provincial governor.

<관련 한글 기사>

영화같은 '아프간 탈옥사건' 어떻게 일어났나

독창성-조직력-정교함.."탈옥이 아닌 침입사건"

전등과 환풍기까지.."서서 도주할 수 있을 정도"

아프가니스탄의 한 교도소에서 일어난 탈레반 조직원 탈옥사건을 두고 뒷이야기가 무성하다.

칸다하르 사르포자 교도소에서 500여명이 함께 도주한 것은 영화에서나  있을법 한 일로, 일부에서는 현지 보안 관계자가 이를 돕지 않고서는 불가능하다는 지적도 제기됐다.

영국 일간 가디언은 25일(현지시각) 이번 탈옥사건을 독창성과 조직력,  정교함 이라는 측면에서 본다면 1944년 나치 수용소인 '스탈락 루프트 3'에 갇힌 영국군 포 로 76명이 땅굴을 통해 탈출한 사건과 대적할 수 있다고 비교했다.

물론 당시 사건의 의미로 볼때 이번 일이 같을 수는 없지만 그만큼 기발하다는 것이다.

먼저 탈옥사건을 준비하기 위해 이슬람 무장단체인 탈레반 대원 18명이  칸다하 르 시내 서쪽에서 교도소 내 정치범 수용소 쪽으로 다섯 달간 흙을 팠다. 그러니 이 번 사건은 '탈옥'이 아니라 '침입' 사건이다.

게다가 320m 아래 '땅굴'을 파다보면 생기는 대량의 흙을 감시의 눈을 피해 치 울 필요도 없었다. 탈레반은 흙을 화물트럭으로 내다 팔았다.

흙 파기 작업을 시작한 지점은 교도소 정반대쪽에 있는 평범한 건물이었다.  땅 굴은 인근 고속도로 구간 바로 아래를 지났는데, 이곳을 지탱하려고 철제와  콘트리 트 기둥까지 사용했다.

탈옥자 중 한 명에 따르면 땅굴은 똑바로 서서 도주할 수 있을 정도로 그 폭과 높이가 넉넉했으며 콘크리트 바닥에 전등과 환풍기까지 갖추고 있었다고 한다.

3년간 복역 중이던 28세의 이 탈옥자는 가디언과의 인터뷰에서 한밤중에 일어나

20분만에 동료들과 함께 땅굴에 도착했다고 말했다.

그는 "정말 잘 돼있더라"며 "충분한 공기 공급을 위해 한번에 몇명씩만 땅굴을 지나갔다"고 상황을 전했다.

밤 11시에서 새벽 3시30분까지 재소자들이 도주할때까지 교도소 당국은 이런 사 실을 까맣게 모르고 있다 나중에 이들이 남긴 죄수복과 신발 등만 발견했다.

정치 전문가인 하로운 미르는 "이번 사건은 탈레반이 아프간 보안당국에 얼마나 잘 침투해있는지를 보여준다"며 내부 협력자가 있을 것이라고 AFP 통신에 말했다. 

게다가 최근 아프간 정부가 탈레반과 평화협상을 추진하고 있어 이같은 주장이 이어지고 있다.

그러나 이 탈옥자는 "경비원들은 항상 술에 취해 있거나 마약을 하고 있었다"며 "그들은 당시 잠만 자고 있었고 순찰도 하지 않았다"고 주장했다.

이런 가운데 칸다하르주는 탈옥자들을 검거하기 위한 대규모 작전을 시작하고 주민들의 정보 제공을 위한 핫라인까지 설치했다.

탈레반은 3년 전인 2008년 6월 이 교도소를 공격, 탈레반 대원 390명을 포함 870명을 탈출시킨 바 있다.

이번 사건은 미군이 오는 7월 아프간 철군 개시를 앞두고 있고 치안권을 점진적으로 나토(북대서양조약기구)군에서 아프간 정부군으로 이양하기로 한 가운데 일어나 현지 치안체계에 심각한 허점을 드러냈다고 외신들은 지적했다.

(연합뉴스)
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