Tanks surround Kabul riot prison

Security forces with tanks and heavy guns surrounded Kabul’s main prison today, as Afghan authorities sought to resume negotiations with rioting prisoners, but warned they could use force.

Gunfire continued to ring out this morning from Policharki jail on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, where officials said al Qaida and Taliban prisoners incited a riot by hundreds of inmates late on Saturday and took control of much of the prison.

Prison authorities had cut off water, electricity and food for the rioters, said Abdul Salaam Bakshi, chief of prisons in Afghanistan.

From inside the jail, inmates could be heard shouting, “God is Great!”

Hamidullah, a prison medic, said inmates had written in notes thrown to him from cell windows that five inmates had been killed and 30 wounded in two separate cell blocks in firing by police guards. Officials said they had no confirmation of any casualties.

Mohammed Qasim Hashimzai, deputy justice minister, said he wanted to end the stand-off peacefully, but warned the government could use force.