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Taliban commander escapes prison in Pakistan

A police armored vehicle is parked outside the district jail in Pakistan's northern area of Gilgit on February 27, 2015. (AFP photo)

A senior Taliban commander involved in a 2013 massacre of 10 foreign climbers at a Himalayan mountain has escaped from a prison in northern Pakistan.  

Local Pakistani officials said Habib-ur-Rehman, one of the key suspects in the attack, managed to escape from jail in the Pakistani city of Gilgit in the early hours of Friday morning.

Another inmate held over a different attack on security forces also fled with Rehman. 

"Among them, one was Habib-ur-Rehman, accused of killing foreign mountaineers on Nanga Parbat in 2013 and the other inmate Liaquat was involved in an attack on security forces in Chilas region," media outlets quoted Liaquat Ali, a senior local administration official, as saying.

Hazrat Bilal, another militant involved in the attack on climbers, was killed during the escape attempt while a fourth criminal was recaptured by security guards, the official noted. 

The escaped militants were reportedly awaiting trial over the attacks.

Security forces have launched a massive search operation in the region to recapture the militants. 

In June 2013, at least 15 militants dressed in paramilitary uniforms stormed a base camp at Nanga Parbat, Pakistan's second-highest mountain, and shot dead 10 climbers along with their Pakistani guide.

The victims were from the US, China, Ukraine, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Nepal.

Pakistan has witnessed major militant attacks over the past few years.

On December 16, 2014, a group of pro-Taliban militants stormed an army-run school in the city of Peshawar and killed about 150 people, including 132 students.

Militants in Pakistan have staged several mass jailbreaks in recent years.

In 2012, Taliban militants stormed a prison in the northern town of Bannu, freeing almost 400 prisoners.

JR/AS/MHB


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