Taliban prisoners escape

More than 30 Taliban prisoners and other inmates have broken out of a high-security prison in southern Afghanistan, government officials said today.

It was not immediately clear if any important Taliban leaders were among the escapees.

The men disappeared without detection late last night from a prison in Kandahar, the stronghold of Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime.

“We have no idea how they have escaped,” one official told The Associated Press after visiting the prison. “There was no sign of any resistance.”

The exact number of escaped prisoners had not been determined, he said, but a search had been launched.

Another government official said the men had been arrested in recent months during fighting between Afghan forces and rebels.