Forty-one Taliban prisoners tunnelled out of jail in southern Afghanistan in a dramatic escape that is embarrassing for the government and presents yet another security headache in the troubled region.
The break-out from the main jail in the volatile southern city of Kandahar occurred last night, the city's security chief General Salem said.
He said all the prisoners were from one barracks of the jail, which houses some 400 prisoners.
Kandahar province, which borders Pakistan, was the birthplace of the Taliban and has been the scene of many recent guerrilla attacks that have curtailed aid and reconstruction.
The Taliban have been blamed for a surge in violence across Afghanistan since August in which more than 300 people have died, including aid workers, government soldiers and police, US troops and many guerrillas.