Taliban militants have freed 243 prisoners in an assault on a prison in north-west Pakistan, officials say.<\/p>\n
The attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan began with huge explosions at around midnight on Monday (15:00 GMT).<\/p>\n
Gunmen then opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns, police chief Sohail Khalid said. About 70 attackers were in police uniform.<\/p>\n
Dera Ismail Khan is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, is next to Pakistan’s restive mountainous tribal region.<\/p>\n
The town’s prison houses hundreds of Taliban and militants from banned groups.<\/p>\n
Twelve people – including six police officers – were killed in the gun battle that raged for three or four hours after militants launched their assault.<\/p>\n
The town’s civil commissioner Mushtaq Jadoon said that 30 hardened militants jailed for their involvement in major attacks or suicide bombings were among those who escaped.<\/p>\n
Those released jail include two local Taliban commanders, Abdul Hakim and Haji Ilyas.<\/p>\n
Also released is a sectarian militant, Waleed Akbar, the principle suspect in last year’s attacks on Shia mourners in Dera Ismail Khan during the Shia mourning month of Moharram.<\/p>\n
Attackers used loudhailers to call the names of particular inmates, Mr Jadoon said.<\/p>\n
Fourteen fugitives were later re-arrested by police, he said. A curfew has now been imposed on Dera Ismail Khan as police hunt for the remaining escaped prisoners, but correspondents say this will be a difficult task as they flee into tribal areas.<\/p>\n
Katherine Houreld, a correspondent for Reuters news agency, told the BBC it had been a “very sophisticated attack – they blew the electricity line, they breached the walls and they set ambushes for reinforcements”.<\/p>\n
Mr Jadoon told a local TV station that 14 explosive devices planted in the jail had so far been defused.<\/p>\n
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