Similar to what al-Qaeda in Iraq pulled off last week. I’m guessing we will see more of these.

Via Irish Independent:

Grenade wielding gunmen battled Pakistani security forces during a sophisticated midnight attack on a major prison holding hundreds of Taliban and other militants, police have said.

Fighting continued into the early hours of Tuesday and security forces said they had imposed a curfew on the city, Dera Ismail Khan, 200 miles (320 km) west of Lahore.

Up to 40 gunmen wearing police uniforms launched their attack by blowing up the electricity line to the prison and detonating heavy explosions that breached the outer walls, said provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas.

“It’s completely dark in there. We don’t know what’s going on but there is fighting,” he said.

The militants fought their way inside using rocket propelled grenades and machineguns, district police chief Sohail Khalid said.

Mushtaq Jadoon, the town’s civil commissioner, said dozens of prisoners had escaped. “The Taliban have loudspeakers and they are calling the names of their friends,” he said.

The gunmen also took over a nearby house and hospital, holding the residents hostage as they fired on police from the rooftops and laid ambushes for reinforcements.

Update: Between Iraq and Pakistan we’re looking at more than 700 jihadis back to roaming the battlefield.

Via LWJ:

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan launched a complex assault that included suicide bombers against a prison in Dera Ismail Khan, freeing more than 200 prisoners, including at least 30 “hardcore militants.” The attack was likely carried out by the Ansar al Aseer, a joint Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan unit that has been designated to free imprisoned jihadists.

The attack began around midnight with a massive explosion outside the prison, which was followed by several more detonations designed to breach the prison walls. A team of Taliban fighters dressed in police uniforms then stormed the prison and engaged the guards while searching for imprisoned jihadists.

Outside the prison, teams of armed fighters deployed to block Pakistani security forces who attempted to reinforce the prison guards. Taliban fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns took control of a nearby hospital and a home and opened fire on Pakistani troops as they rushed to the prison, Reuters reported. Fighting lasted for more than three hours before security forces regained control of the prison.

The Taliban claimed credit for the attack, and said that hundreds of prisoners were freed. Spokesman Shahidullah Shahid claimed that more than 100 fighters and several suicide bombers executed the attack on the prison.

“We had sent around 150 fighters including a squad of suicide bombers. The aim was to free the inmates and it was a successful action as Taliban managed to free at least 300 prisoners,” Shahid said, The Times of India reported.

A Pakistani official confirmed that more than 200 prisoners, including dozens of jihadists, escaped during the jailbreak.