400 prisoners escape from Pakistan prison
File Picture - A Taliban militant poses for a picture. Reuters

Nearly 400 prisoners escaped from a Pakistan's prison early Sunday when Taliban made a sudden attack. The escaped prisoners include some hardcore militants, according to officials.

The two-hour attack started at 1.00 am in the morning (20:00 GMT Saturday) when the attackers stormed the prison at Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa situated in the north-western part of the country,

Around 150 armed Taliban fighters came in cars and pick-up trucks with guns and started hurling grenades and freed 384 inmates. Out of them, at least 20 are extremely dangerous Taliban militants.

One of the escaped inmates includes Adnan Rasheed, who was allegedly involved in an assassination attempt of former President Pervez Musharraf. He was on death row and the attackers supposedly came to rescue Rasheed, says a police official.

"There was an inmate Adnan Rasheed, who was a dangerous prisoner. He was a mastermind in (one of the attacks) on Musharraf. These people came for him and took another 383 people too," the Reuters quoted an unnamed official as saying.

Pakistan's Taliban group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claims responsibility for the attack although unverified.

"We attacked the Bannu prison and got our special members freed," the AFP quoted TTP's spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan as saying claiming responsibility to the attack.

"In a couple of days when all of them have reached their designated places we will issue details about them. At the moment I cannot give you exact numbers," he added.

While describing the incident, "Some 384 prisoners, including some hardcore militants, have escaped during the attack," an unnamed police official told AFP.

The official also stated, "Preliminary information suggests that there were some 944 prisoners in the jail according to the tally late Saturday."

The Information minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain has promised immediate investigations into the issue. Three police officials are also reportedly wounded in this attack.

The attack is clearly a setback for the Pakistani security forces fighting in the north-western region of the country against the militants.

Pakistan military also had launched a series of operations against the Pakistan Taliban in their strong grounds of north-western part.

The group allegedly has a close connection with other militant group including Afghan Taliban, al-Qaida and other groups based out of the Afghan border.

Despite consistent strong attacks by the police and the military, the militants are seemed to be resilient in the region.