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LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...tory?track=rss

Hundreds escape from Afghan prison, NATO says

More than 400 inmates, many of them Islamic insurgents, escaped overnight from the main prison in the southern city of Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban movement, according to NATO officials.

The inmates escaped through a nearly 400-yard tunnel they had spent six months digging, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said.

The escape at the prison, which holds 1,200 inmates, began after dark and finished just before daybreak, said Maj. Tim James, a spokesman for NATO forces in Kabul.

James said Afghan officials, who run the prison and are managing the investigation into the prison break, reported that 476 inmates had escaped, while the Taliban claimed there were 541 escapees.