Nearly 500 Taliban prisoners have escaped from Kandahar prison in southern Afghanistan through a 360-metre-long tunnel .Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said the militant Islamists were responsible for the mass break-out. The Taliban has said that all of those who escaped were members of the militant organisation. The acting police chief of Kandahar, Shair Shah Yousufzai, confirmed the escape. The jail break is the second major escape in three years to hit Kandahar prison. In 2008, around 1,000 prisoners including Taliban militants escaped after the Taliban used a truck bomb to blow open the gates.