Up to 40 armed men disguised as police officers have launched a major attack on a prison holding hundreds of militants in the Pakistani city of Dera Ismail Khan.
A series of explosions shook the complex before the attackers fired rocket propelled grenades and machine gun rounds at guards, according to district police chief Sohail Khalid.
Local resident Sharafat Khan said one of the blasts was so strong it rattled nearby houses.
Provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas said the electricity supply to the jail had been blown up before the attack.
"It's completely dark in there. We don't know what's going on but there is fighting," he said.
The gunmen also reportedly took over a nearby house and hospital, holding those inside hostage as they fired on police from the rooftops.
Two policemen have reportedly been injured in the raid, with soldiers and extra security guards brought in to cordon off the area. A curfew has been imposed on the city.
An intelligence official said the attackers could be hearing shouting "God is great" and "Long live the Taliban".
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said 100 gunmen and seven suicide bombers had been sent to the prison to free the group's leaders.
He claimed they had freed around 300 prisoners, but that could not immediately be verified.
Mushtaq Jadoon, the town's civil commissioner, said dozens of prisoners had escaped.
"The Taliban have loudspeakers and they are calling the names of their friends," he said.
The prison, around 180 miles south of Peshawar, houses about 250 members of the Taliban, as well as militants from other banned sectarian groups.
A group of 10 prisoners escaped the jail during a raid earlier this month, although seven were later captured and returned to their cells.
Dera Ismail Khan is on the edge of Pakistan's tribal region, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al Qaeda militants.
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