More than 450 prisoners have been whisked out of jail in Afghanistan, by Taliban insurgents. Many among those who escaped were Taliban commanders .

 

This is Sarposa Prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city.

On Sunday, the prison housed more than 1-thousand inmates until the jailbreak occurred overnight.

Tooryalai Wesa, Kandahar Governor, said, "Around 475 prisoners escaped from the jail. Among them, only one was a criminal prisoner, all others were political prisoners."

But a Taliban spokesman said more than 500 inmates were freed, and about 100 of them were Taliban commanders.

Into the jail, a more than 300-meter tunnel was dug underground. The spokesman said it took the insurgents over five months, as they were careful to bypass government checkpoints and major roads.

Kabul reacted to the incident immediately.

Waheed Omar, Afghan Presidential Spokesman, said, "Our first reaction is that this is a blow. It is something that should not have happened and now that it has happened we are looking into finding out what exactly happened and what's being done to compensate for the disaster that happened in the prison in Kandahar and beyond that I have nothing else to share."

Police have mounted a search operation, and it's believed 13 of the escapees had been recaptured by midday on Monday.

The prison was previously attacked by Taliban insurgents in 2008, which freed 9-hundred prisoners.