DERA ISMAIL KHAN: At least 11 persons including five policemen were killed and seven others injured in a terrorist assault at the city’s central jail—the most significant jail in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where over 40 explosions were reported late on Monday. The outlawed TTP has claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Security officials said that around 250 prisoners were missing after the incident and a search for the fugitives continued who were suspected to be taken away by the attackers.
Heavily armed militants belonging to the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacked the prison from different sides and managed to make their way in from the Vegetable Market side near Government Girls Degree College D I Khan.
Security and law enforcement agencies with the help of Pakistan army cordoned off the prison and conducted a six-hour long operation before finally taking back control of the prison.
Moreover, a curfew was imposed in the city as a search operation continued to apprehend the escaped fugitives.
ISPR has confirmed that they dispatched the Army units which have cordoned of the prison and are participating in the ongoing operation alongside other paramilitary forces.
Meanwhile, new TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid has accepted responsibility for the attack. Speaking to media, he said that around 100 militants took part in the attack including a number of suicide bombers among them.
He said the TTP has achieved their targets and their operation was successful.
The security sources said the jail is considered one of the largest jails of the province, as over 4000 prisoners are detained here. The security sources added as many as 150 terrorists have been kept in custody at this DI Khan jail.
Provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas said that up to 40 gunmen wearing police uniforms launched their attack by blowing up the electricity line to the prison and detonating heavy explosions that breached the outer walls.
The militants fought their way inside using rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, district police chief Sohail Khalid said.
Mushtaq Jadoon, the town’s civil commissioner, said dozens of prisoners had escaped. “The Taliban have loudspeakers and they are calling the names of their friends,” he said.
