Some 60 suspected Taliban prisoners, including 20 Pakistanis, have been released from an infamous jail in northern Afghanistan ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival, an official said.
| Guess their victims aren't dead anymore, huh? |
"Sixty Taliban prisoners were released from Sheberghan prison today," said General Majit Rozi, deputy to Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum. Sheberghan, 130 kilometres west of the main northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, is Dostam's stronghold. President Hamid Karzai had signed an order for their release as an amnesty ahead of next week's Eid al-Fitr festival, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, Rozi said. Around two years ago 3,500 suspected Taliban were held in Sheberghan but had been gradually released and now there were just 900 still held, he said. The militants had been captured during the US-led military assault to topple the hardline regime two years ago. |