The riot at the Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the outskirts of the capital erupted late on Saturday when prisoners clashed with guards and then set alight mattresses and beds, deputy justice minister Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai said.
Several prison blocks were destroyed in the fire and windows and doors were smashed, said human rights official Nader Nadeery. Prison guards opened fire to stop the unrest spreading throughout the huge complex, Hashimzai said.
"According to the prison guards, four to five people have been wounded but according to the rioters, they say they have 20 people who are wounded," he said. A prison guard was also slightly wounded.
Nadeery, from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission helping to negotiate with the prisoners, said he had been told there were 31 casualties which could include fatalities.
The prisoners were refusing to hand over the injured for treatment, Hashimzai said.
"They have control of the wounded prisoners and they are not giving them to us so that we can treat them. We have doctors and ambulances ready here," he said.
The rioters had broken through walls separating different sections of the block, including a women's section, and "have joined together and organised a riot," he said.
"We have created a security cordon around the block. We have control of the prison except for this one block," he said.
Soldiers and police reinforcements had surrounded the jail and human rights officials had arrived to negotiate with the rioters.
Some reports said the unrest may have been sparked by resistance to new prison uniforms, which would reportedly distinguish between political and criminal prisoners.
But Nadeery said it appeared to have been staged by Taliban members trying to escape. "It is very much a political issue," he said.
Notorious gangleader Timur Shah, convicted of kidnapping an Italian aid worker last year and sentenced to death for murder, was also involved in provoking the situation, he said.
The rioters "are not agreeing on anything ... they just want to be released," he said.
"We were hoping to go in and meet with the prisoners, get firsthand information, but we were not able to. The situation is very tense."
Hashimzai said the prisoners had introduced a representative for talks and presented a list of demands, including that they did not have to wear the new uniforms. Another demand was the removal of the grille separating prisoners from visitors.
"We are making preparations for the night because it seems it will continue overnight," Hashimzai said as darkness fell.
He said there were about 1,350 prisoners in the seized block. "About 350 are Taliban and Al Qaeda. Among them are also prisoners from other countries. The rest of them are criminal prisoners," he said.
Also on Sunday, 60 former Taliban, including five high-ranking figures, surrendered as part of a government amnesty scheme and vowed to lay down arms and work to rebuild Afghanistan.
Among them were the Taliban-era mayor of the capital of northwestern Faryab province and police chief of Jawzjan province, said Abdul Razaq, National Independent Commission for Peace and Reconciliation director in southern Kandahar city.
Mullah Mohammad Rasoul, one-time mayor of Faryab's Maymana city, said he wanted to take part in the reconstruction of war-shattered Afghanistan.
"I joined the peace process to take part in rebuilding of my country and I ask other brothers to join the process and give up fighting," he said.
More than 1,200 members of the Taliban or the extremists Hezb-e-Islami faction of wanted warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have signed up to the amnesty scheme since it started less than a year ago.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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