The Taliban report that 15 inmates have escaped from the heavily-guarded Pol-e-Charkhi prison east of the Afghan capital.

Tuesday's claim by Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, says most of those fleeing the jail's sixth bloc Monday night were sentenced to death and life imprisonment.

Mujahid named some of the inmates, whom he said joined the group after being reunited with their families as: Samiullah, Dilawar, Wali Jan, Zia Ahmad Kandahari, Zia Ahmad Ghaznawi, Zabihullah, Saboor, Omar, Massoud, Sadiq and Massoud Sani.

In 2011, over 500 Taliban prisoners had escaped from a jail in the southern province of Kandahar.