Taliban rebels blasted into a prison using a suicide car bomb and guns today, freeing as many as hundreds of militant prisoners and killing at least two guards.
The attack ripped through the front entrance of the main jail in the southern city of Kandahar.
The raid is a blow to President Hamid Karzai, coming one day after world donors pledged $20bn to rebuild Afghanistan at a conference in Paris, but also called on him to strengthen the rule of law.
A suicide attacker drove his way into the main gate of the prison, destroying the gate and two sides of the surrounding wall. The bomb blast was followed by an armed attack.
One estimate placed the number of escaped prisoners at 600. An investigation is ongoing.
Officials said that that there were around 400 Taliban prisoners in the jail at the time, along with hundreds of other criminal inmates.
Afghan security forces entered the prison after the attack and took back control.
