Hundreds Escape Afghan Jail

In the southern province of Uruzgan, more than 100 insurgents attacked NATO-led and Afghan troops Friday in what officials called the largest attack this year. At least 17 insurgents were killed in fighting a day earlier, which began when they ambushed a reconnaissance patrol, officials said.

In a measure of the increasing volatility, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said that for the first time, the monthly total of U.S. and allied combat deaths in Afghanistan had exceeded the toll in Iraq in May. Gates, addressing his European counterparts at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said other NATO members needed to do more to help stabilize Afghanistan.

"I expect government decisions and actions to match government rhetoric," Gates said. "It's important that we live up to our pledges, in both civilian and military spheres, necessary for success in Afghanistan."

Several high-profile prison breaks have taken place in Afghanistan in the six years since a U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban government. In 2005, four suspected al-Qaeda figures escaped from the heavily guarded U.S. prison facility at Bagram air base. They included Omar Farouq, believed to be a senior al-Qaeda figure in Southeast Asia, who had been turned over to U.S. authorities by the government of Indonesia. It was never determined how the men managed to flee the facility.

In early 2006, seven Taliban prisoners fled the Pol-i-Charki prison near Kabul, which was being rebuilt by the United States for special terrorism prisoners.

Staff writer Pamela Constable and staff researcher Robert E. Thomason, both in Washington, contributed to this report.