Canadian troops are working to secure parts of Kandahar after bomb and rocket attacks on the city's main prison set hundreds of prisoners free and killed 15 guards.
The New York Times is reporting that about 1,200 prisoners have been set free, including some 350 Taliban militants.
"There is no one left," Wali Karzai, who is also the president of Kandahar's provincial council, told The Associated Press.
Tanks rolled into the city from the nearby Kandahar airfield, the area's main NATO base, an hour after the Friday night blast. A perimeter has been set up near the Sarposa Prison and the area is believed to be secure, Canadian military spokesman Jay Janzen said in a news conference on Friday.
The jail's main gate was hit with a tanker truck full of explosives shortly after 9:30 p.m., prison chief Abdul Qabir told The Canadian Press. The bomb also destroyed an outpost full of police officers, killing them all. Qabir did not know how many had died.
Soon after, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the back of the prison, blasting a hole though the wall.
Rocket fire could be heard throughout the city late into the night.
According to the Taliban, the attack was carried out by 30 fighters on motorcycles and two suicide bombers.
Members of the NATO International Security Assistance Force are working with Afghan forces to respond to the bombing.
Canada has about 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan, most in the Kandahar region.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told AP the jailbreak freed hundreds of imprisoned Taliban fighters. He said the attack had been in the works for two months.
"Today we succeeded," he said, adding the prisoners are now "safe in town and they are going to their homes."
Notorious prison
Kandahar, the second largest city in Afghanistan, was the Taliban's former stronghold. Militants have been fighting to regain the province, and Canadians have been on the frontline of those battles the past two years.
The Sarposa Prison was the one at the centre of a scandal early this year, after allegations that prisoners handed over by the Canadian Forces were being tortured.
Canada has since paid for upgrades to the jail and Canadian troops have offered human rights training to the Afghan guards.
Military analyst Mercedes Stephenson said Friday's attack will be serious hit to Canadian morale, particularly since many of the escapees had been captured by Canadian Forces.
"It's absolutely a blow to the Canadian mission," she told 麻豆影视net. "It's a lot of very hard work that's been undone."
Bush pushes for support
Earlier Friday, U.S. President George Bush encouraged European Union countries to support Afghanistan transition to democracy while on a diplomatic visit to Paris.
"I see a commitment to a powerful and purposeful Europe that advances the values of liberty within its borders and beyond,'' Bush said in his comments at a meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. "It's more than just a moral obligation."
