Inmates Riot at High Security Jail in Kabul

A high-security jail in Kabul erupted in violence after scores of inmates demanded their release from jail despite being acquitted by Karzai over a year ago. Reuters

KABUL (Reuters) - Scores of prisoners rioted in a high-security Kabul jail and at least nine people were wounded in an exchange of gunfire as Afghan police tried to restore order, sources in two foreign aid agencies said on Wednesday.

A part of the Pul-i-Charkhi prison had been taken over by the inmates who said they were being illegally confined despite a decree by President Hamid Karzai acquitting them over a year ago, an aid agency worker said on condition of anonymity.

Some 150 inmates had been on a hunger strike for days demanding their release.

Unknown number of people, including several hundred suspected Taliban prisoners are being held at the jail which lies in the eastern outskirts of Kabul and earned notoriety for executions and torture during the communist rule in the 1980s.

"We know there were some shootings yesterday and the prisoners have taken control of parts of the prison," the foreign aid agency source said on condition of anonymity.