AFP

KABUL THE AFGHAN government on Saturday sacked five officials for ‘negligence’ after 32 prisoners, including members of the Taliban, escaped when gunmen attacked the jail.

While 18 of the prisoners have now been captured, 14 are still on the run including four members of the Taliban and 10 criminals, ministry of interior spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told AFP.

The police chief in the northern province of Sari Pul province where jail was located, the prison director, and three other prison employees have been fired and will be interrogated in Kabul, the spokesman said.

“The initial investigation shows that the police chief and the director of the prison of Sari Pul have been negligent in their duties, and thus fired and summoned to Kabul,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

The attack started after a large explosion blew a hole in the wall of the prison in Sari Pul, the capital of the northern province of the same name, shortly after darkness fell on Thursday.

“The explosive was taken inside the prison. We don’t know how,” Sediqqi said.

Taliban gunmen then attacked the jail, sparking clashes that left three inmates dead and 28 wounded, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying 170 prisoners, including their district governors and commanders, escaped.

In a spectacular jailbreak in April last year, almost 500 mostly Taliban inmates made it out of a prison in southern Kandahar province.