More than 500 prison inmates freed by Taliban fighters flooded the streets of the Afghan provincial capital of Kunduz on Monday, a police spokesman told CNN.
The Taliban insurgents seized a major portion of Kunduz, including the main roundabout in the city, and were battling government forces Monday evening near the provincial police chief’s compound, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini told CNN.
One of the released inmates told CNN, “We were hearing gunshots throughout the day, but it was 4:00 p.m. when the Kunduz prison guards left the compound. Then, the inmates broke all the doors and fences and started running towards the main gate.”
“As soon as we opened the main gate, we saw a group of armed Taliban outside the gate. They told us that we were free and could go home. … We all headed towards our homes,” he said.
The Taliban also claimed to have seized a 200-bed hospital — posting photos to social media that they claimed proved their control of the facility. Hussaini denied claims that the insurgents held any government buildings.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi had earlier said that Afghan security forces backed by air power from the Afghan army were holding the insurgents at bay while they targeted a prison, the provincial police chief’s compound and some other targets.
Sediqqi said at least four civilians had died and 50 others were wounded as Taliban forces were firing heavy weapons indiscriminately throughout the city.
In addition, 25 Taliban fighters were killed, Sediqqi said, and two Afghan policemen died and four others were wounded.
The aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said Monday that its trauma center in Kunduz had received 66 patients, including eight who were declared dead on arrival and 17 who were in critical condition.
Monday’s assault is the latest in a series of clashes between Taliban and government fighters in the northeastern province.
Taliban forces, boosted by an influx of fighters from Pakistan and elsewhere, have battled government forces throughout the province since spring.
The assault comes a day after a suicide bombing killed at least nine in the eastern province of Paktika. The Taliban denied responsibility for that attack.