25 April 2011 Last updated at 00:29 ET

More than 470 inmates at an Afghan jail have escaped through a tunnel hundreds of metres long.

Officials at the jail in Kandahar city said the tunnel had been dug from the outside and many of those who escaped were Taliban insurgents.

The Kandahar provincial governor's office said some escapees had since been recaptured but gave no precise numbers.

The jailbreak is the second major escape from the prison in three years.

In June 2008, a suicide bomber blew open the Kandahar prison gates and destroyed a nearby checkpoint, freeing hundreds of prisoners, many of them suspected insurgents.

The prison holds about 1,200 inmates.

"A tunnel hundreds of metres long was dug from the south of the prison into the prison and 476 political prisoners escaped last night," said prison director General Ghulam Dastageer Mayar.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said it was ready to provide assistance if requested by Afghan officials.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13184920