Stat of the Day

It Cost $20,000 to Break 541 Taliban Prisoners Out of Jail

Reuters
Caitlin Dickson 515 Views May 16, 2011

Alex Strick van Linschoten, a Kandahar-based researcher, translates an article from the latest issue of the Taliban's Al-Somood magazine which details the elaborate plan that went into breaking 541 Taliban members out of a prison in Kandahar. The article reveals that the April 25 operation was the third successful escape of political prisoners over the past eight years. It took eight people five months to dig the tunnel through which the prisoners were freed took and cost about $20,000 in total on things like renting a house 20 meters from the prison watchtower, food, truck and other equipment.

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