About 1,300 Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners, protesting against a uniform regime separating political and criminal prisoners, rioted in Afghanistan taking over the control block of the main jail at Pul-e-Charkhi. Officials said that the prisoners broke through interconnecting walls, including those that separated the women and "joined together and organized a riot." The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said that the riot was staged by Taliban prisoners wanting to escape and called it a "political issue." Guards fired their guns to contain the riot from spreading.