June 27, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 22, 1429

KABUL: Afghanistan has sacked the police chief of southern Kandahar province and two senior aides over an embarrassing mass jailbreak earlier this month, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

About 1,100 prisoners, including hundreds of Taliban rebels, escaped when militant suicide bombers blew open the gates of Kandahar city’s main prison on June 13. Fifteen prison guards were killed in the attack. “Sayed Agha Saqeb, police chief of Kandahar, the deputy police chief and the criminal investigation director were sacked from their jobs,” an interior ministry press statement said.

The trio were sent to the provincial attorney general’s office for further investigation over the jailbreak, it said. A new police chief, Mutihullah, was appointed to replace Saqeb, the statement added.

An initial investigation headed by Afghanistan’s deputy interior minister, Munir Mangal, found the police chief and his two aides had been “neglecting” their jobs, which resulted in the jailbreak, it said. —AFP