The tunnel that allowed 488 Taliban prisoners to crawl 1,000ft to freedom
A policeman by the entrance to the escape tunnel in Sarpoza jail.
A huge manhunt was under way yesterday after 488 Taliban prisoners broke out of a high-security jail in southern Afghanistan, via a 1,000ft tunnel that snaked under checkpoints, razor-wire-tipped walls and a major highway before emerging in a house outside the perimeter. Described by the Afghan government as a "disaster that should not have happened", the escape has made a mockery of the national security forces barely three months before Nato troops are due to hand over control of several parts of the country. Inside help is almost certainly to blame. According to a triumphant Taliban spokesman, insurgents on the outside spent five months excavating the tunnel before finally breaking into one of the cells late on Sunday night, using car-jacks to crack through the final layer of concrete.
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