KOHAT, Dec 23: The military authorities shifted all the 704 prisoners from the Kohat Central Prison for security reasons in view of the presence of 139 detained Al Qaeda members and dozens of suspected Afghan terrorists on Sunday.

All the prisoners were shifted in private vehicles to Peshawar, Bannu, Karak and Hangu, leaving their relatives in the lurch who thronged the main gate of the central jail to seek help from the authorities concerned about their new destinations.

The new in-charge of the central prison Kohat, Col Syed Tariq, said: “They (prisoners) are a different kind of species and even the police personnel and other jail staff were unaware of the exact situation inside the barracks.”

He said that the prisoners were their special guests and they knew how to take care of such people.

About the number of Taliban and Arabs present in the prison, he said they were more than what was being reported in the press.

To another question, he said that he was awaiting orders about the future of the European and Arab origin people and added that they might remain here for interrogation by foreign intelligence teams. He said that there were people from all over the world and their fate was to be decided by a joint international interrogation team.

The jail authorities told Dawn that seven Al-Qaeda members who were seriously injured had been shifted to the Combined Military Hospital, Kohat, and the prison was being vacated on the orders of high officials as more Taliban and foreigner fighters were expected to be shifted from Parachinar to Kohat in a few days.

Meanwhile, army troops continued strict checking of all private and public transport on all exit points of Kohat.