Some 540 members of the Taliban including military commanders have escaped from Kandahar prison via a 320 metre-long tunnel

Some 540 members of the Taliban including military commanders have escaped from Kandahar prison via a 320 metre-long tunnel, officials said Monday.

The Taliban said it was behind the huge jail break and that all of those who escaped were members of the militant organisation. "A tunnel hundreds of metres long was dug from the south of the prison into the prison and 476 political prisoners escaped last night," said prison director General Ghulam Dastageer Mayar.
  
The acting police chief of Kandahar, Shair Shah Yousufzai, also confirmed the escape, saying: "Last night some political prisoners broke out of the prison and have escaped."
  
The jail break is the second major escape in three years from Kandahar prison.

According to a Taliban statement the tunnel was not dug by the inmates but by fighters outside the prison.

"The tunnel reached its target last night, from where the prisoner Mujahideen were led away through the escape route by three previously informed inmates in a period of four-and-a-half hours, starting from 11pm last night and ending at 3:30am this morning. Mujahideen later on sent vehicles to the inmates who were led away to secure destinations."

"They all have made it safe to our centres and there was no fighting," Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said.

Ahmadi said that 106 were Taliban commanders while the rest were foot soldiers. Kandahar police said they had re-captured eight commanders so far.

The Taliban claim that the prison guards did not notice the escape until four hours after the operation was completed.