PESHAWAR: Militants attacked a prison in Dera Ismail Khan late Monday armed with mortars and are locked in a gunfight with police and security forces, officials said.
The attack is under way at Central Prison in Dera Ismail Khan.
"Militants have attacked the Central Prison. They are heavily armed and firing mortar shells," district police chief Sohail Khalid told AFP.
The ambush appears to be an attempt to free several militants who are held in the prison, a security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The jail holds up to 5,000 prisoners including some 300 militants involved in attacks on security forces and sectarian killings, he added.
The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Some 150 Taliban, including 60 suicide bombers, attacked the Central Prison and managed to free about 300 prisoners," Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP by telephone.
However Pakistani authorities did not verify the claim.
It was not immediately possible to confirm a jail break or any casualties, said Khalid, adding that extra police and paramilitary forces had been called into the area.
"The situation is not clear as intense firing is going on between militants and security forces," he said.
Provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas said that up to 40 militants wearing police uniforms entered the jail after bombing its outer wall.
"Attackers threw hand grenades on prison guards. I have no information about the escape of prisoners right now," Abbas said, adding that at least two prison staff suffered wounds in the attack.
Amir Khattak, a senior administration official in Dera Ismail Khan, said "some prisoners had escaped and a curfew has been imposed in the city".
Residents in Dera Ismail Khan reported hearing loud blasts and gunfire, and said the electricity supply to several parts of the city had been suspended.
A local police official said he saw militants carrying rocket launchers and firing at the jail.
"Militants were firing rockets at jail and I also heard gunfire from inside the building," the official said, on condition of anonymity.
He said that security forces had cordoned off the area around the prison where intelligence agency offices and the police headquarters are located.
Shaukat Yousafzai, spokesman for the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, confirmed the attack but said he had no information about casualties.
"The army has been called in to counter the militant attack," Yousafzai said.
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