Details added (first version posted at 08:58)
More than 470 prisoners escaped a jail in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar through a tunnel dug by their accomplices outside, officials said Monday, dpa reported.
Suspected militants dug a 350-metre tunnel from the south-western edge of the prison to a cell inside the political wing of the prison, warden General Ghulam Dastageer Mayar said.
"Yes, there are Taliban prisoners among those escaped," he said.
Police launched a manhunt in the provincial capital, also named Kandahar, and eight prisoners had been recaptured, Mayar said.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousif Ahmadi took responsibility for the massive prison break by telephone from an undisclosed location.
He said Taliban troops had facilitated the escape of 541 prisoners, with 106 commanders and the rest of them fighters.