101 freed as Afghan forces dismantle Taliban detention center in S. province

More than 100 detainees, including security personnel and civilians, were set free Monday from a Talian detention center in the restive Helmand province.

Spokesman for the provincial government Omar Zawak said the liberation came after the government forces overrun the center earlier in the day.

"Units of Special Forces stormed Taliban bastion in Marja district and after capturing a detention center of the insurgents, they freed 101 detainees including civilians and security personnel Monday morning," Zawak told Xinhua.

Taliban militants who had kept the detainees in their custody on charge of supporting government, over the past several weeks and months, have yet to make comments.

The troubled Helmand province with Lashkar Gah as its capital 555 km north of Kabul has been regarded as a Taliban hotbed in Afghanistan.

Taliban militants have been fighting over the past nearly three years in Helmand in a bid to re-establish their rule in the strategically important province bordering Pakistan. Enditem