No US ground forces involved in Afghan raid to free prisoners, says US military

Washington: No US ground forces were involved in an Afghan raid that freed 60 prisoners held in a Taliban jail, a US military spokesman said on Friday.

An earlier statement on Friday by the US military said a joint Afghan-US raid freed 40 members of Afghanistan`s security forces from the Taliban jail in the volatile southern province of Helmand.

"This was an independent Afghan operation," said Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for US Central Command, which oversees military operations in Afghanistan. "The only support that the US provided was intelligence support and surveillance overwatch during the operation."