KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 18 -- An inmate injured in a deadly Afghan prison shootout Friday will be questioned to determine if he and four comrades, all once suspected of belonging to al Qaeda, were trying to escape or attempting to attack three American prisoners, the warden said Saturday.
Officials initially said four inmates -- three Pakistanis and an Iraqi -- were involved in the day-long fracas at Kabul's Pul-e Charkhi prison that left the four prisoners and four guards dead. But Abdul Salam Bakhshi, a prison official, said Saturday that another prisoner who was injured also was involved.
Afghan police officers guard the Pul-e Charkhi prison where inmates battled guards Friday. Eight died in the fracas.
(Ahmad Masood -- Reuters)
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"We are going to question him, and he will tell us why they attacked, what was their target, whether they wanted to escape or what was their aim," Bakhshi said.
He said it was possible that the men were trying to get to the three Americans, who are being held in a different part of the prison while serving sentences of eight to 10 years for operating an illegal private jail in Kabul and abusing Afghan detainees there while on a freelance hunt for terrorists.
Jonathan Idema, Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo are seeking to overturn their convictions after a dramatic trial before a special Afghan court that embarrassed U.S. and NATO forces and sowed confusion about the U. S. role in Afghanistan.
Idema's American attorney, John Tiffany, said his client called him from the prison and said the three had been targeted for death by the inmates who attempted the jailbreak.
Idema said during his trial that he was in daily contact with high-level U.S. officials, but the U.S. government described him as a vigilante working on his own. He also accused the FBI of orchestrating his arrest.
Afghan troops stormed the overcrowded Pul-e Charkhi prison just after nightfall Friday with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, ending the 10-hour standoff that began when the five inmates beat and stabbed a guard to death, Bakhshi said.
A gun battle ensued that killed three other guards and two of the would-be escapees. Two other inmates, both Pakistanis, scavenged a gun and barricaded themselves on the prison's war-damaged second floor, taking potshots at security personnel ringing the site.
