KABUL - Afghanistan's top prison official quashed reports of a Taliban break-out from the country's maximum security prison on Monday night, saying that an escape was attempted but all potential escapees were recaptured.
The Central Prison Directorate chief Gen. Amir Mohammad Jamshid told TOLOnews that eight prisoners attempted to escape using the more lenient security within the prison during the Eid holiday, but the prisoners were identified and stopped.

"No one has managed to escape," Jamshid said. "To respect Eid, we wanted to provide a facility for the prisoners to congratulate each other during the Eid days and we opened the doors of the cells. Taking advantage of this, eight prisoners managed to reach the prison yard but they were then identified and detained by the security guards."

TOLOnews earlier reported on Wednesday morning that as many as 15 Taliban commanders on death row had escaped from cell three of block six at Pul-e-Charkhi prison, after a prison official anonymously confirmed a Taliban statement relaying news of the escape.

The Taliban had also released the names of 12 of those said to have escaped, saying they had "already rejoined their [Taliban] groups and returned to their families."

Jamshid confirmed that there is a large number of Pul-e-Charkhi prisoners awaiting the death sentence. He said that up to 100 of the prison's 2,000 inmates were sentenced to death by the Afghan High Court, pending approval from Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Meanwhile, Karzai has issued a pardon decree on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr which, according to Jamshid, will see the release of some 2,000 prisoners who have already served half their sentences.
There is an estimated 24,000 prisoners in prisons across Afghanistan.

This comes as last year more than 500 prisoners managed to escape Kandahar jail after digging a 320 meter long tunnel to the outside, allegedly helped by some of the prison officials. (Tolo News)