4:3 Security forces continue to search the aftermath of Taliban attack on prison
(30 Jul 2013) AP TELEVISION ++4:3++ 1. Wide of police and officials standing near the prison 2. Sign reading (English) "Central Prison DI Khan Estb in 1854" 3. Officials standing in front of prison 4. Wide of burned prison window 5. Weapons and suicide jacket of attackers on the ground ++16:9++ 6. Wide of Pakistan army checking vehicle 7. Various of Pakistan army searching people 8. Close up of gun, soldiers in the background 9. Wide of police stopping vehicle and checking 10. Wide of Pakistan army convoy on road 11. Wide of helicopter in the sky STORYLINE: Prison guards said on Tuesday that they were totally overwhelmed when around 150 heavily armed Taliban fighters staged a late-night attack on their jail in northwest Pakistan, freeing over 250 prisoners including over three dozen suspected militants. It was the second such attack by the Taliban on a prison in the northwest within the last 18 months. But even so, the security forces were totally unprepared for the raid, despite senior prison officials having received intelligence indicating an attack was likely. Over a dozen people were killed in the assault. The incident in the town of Dera Ismail Khan raises serious questions about state institutions' capacity to battle a domestic Taliban insurgency that has raged for years and killed tens of thousands of security personnel and civilians. The militants, who were shouting "God is great" and "Long live the Taliban," killed six policemen, six Shiite Muslim prisoners - one of whom was beheaded - and two civilians, said Dera Ismail Khan's commissioner. Many hard-line Pakistani militants consider the country's Shiite minority to be heretics. The militants were armed with guns, bombs and grenades, and some were disguised in police uniforms. They used megaphones to call out the names of specific prisoners for whom they were looking. They broke open the cells and freed 253 prisoners, including 25 "dangerous terrorists," the commissioner said. The attack ended at about 4 a.m. (23:00GMT) when the militants and prisoners fled the compound, said intelligence officials. Authorities declared a curfew in the area and started searching for both the militants and the prisoners. Dera Ismail Khan is located near Pakistan's tribal region, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the country, and many may have fled there. The militants left behind four suicide vests, two rocket-propelled grenades and 50 hand grenades, said the head of the police bomb disposal squad in Dera Ismail Khan. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid claimed responsibility for the attack, saying 150 militants took part - a number backed up by Pakistani officials - and around 300 prisoners were freed. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
