Taliban Organizes Pakistan Jailbreak: 240 Escape

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Adnan Rasheed seems to be the mastermind behind an attack on a Pakistani jail that freed over 240 prisoners. Rasheed was himself one of these freed in an attack on a prison in Bannu last year, in which 300 prisoners were also released by members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or the Pakistani chapter of the Taliban. Tough guy Rasheed is a former Pakistan Air Force technician who was jailed for trying to kill then president Pervez Mucharraf, and has taken on the formidable foe of Malala Yousafzia, the 15-year-old girl left for dead after their attempt to kill her failed. Malala dared speak out against the Taliban bullies and has since become an international hero. In response, Rasheed has authored a letter that singles her out for assassination.

Meanwhile, Pakistan seems to have not learned its lesson from last year, with over 240 prisoners escaping from this latest prison attack, 35 of which were “high-value” inmates.

  

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Shahid Ullah Shaid, a spokesman for TTP said their group organized the attack. “We had sent around 150 fighters for this activity that also include a suicide bomber squad, comprising of seven members.” So they had the normal suicide squad to detonate a string of explosions, knocking out power and destroying an armored vehicle, before breaching the perimeter and signaling prisoners to flee using loudhailers.

“It reflects very badly on the lack of preparedness and the state of response by the Pakistan security forces,” said Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad, as reported by The Telegraph.

A senior TTP figure said more was to come: “The plot’s architect was Adnan Rasheed and he has been given additional responsibility to organize more such attacks to free inmates from jail and the custody of security forces.”

These events co-occur with the election of Mamnoon Hussain as president.