Two inmates and five prison guards have been killed in an attempted jailbreak in the Afghan capital, Kabul, an interior ministry spokesman said. The inmates, an Iraqi and a Pakistani, were suspected al-Qaeda members. They attacked a guard leading them to morning prayers at the Pul-e-Charki prison on Friday, according to the jail's warden. A gun battle then broke out which is said to be continuing with two other prisoners who grabbed at least one gun. Interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said: "The casualties on our side are five dead and two police officers are missing. Two militants have been killed and possibly another two are wounded." Prison chief Abdul Salam Bakhshi said two Pakistani prisoners were holed up on the jail's war-damaged second floor in a standoff that has now lasted more than seven hours. Bakhshi said the incident began when a prisoner stabbed and killed a guard, took his gun and killed two other guards with it. Two prisoners tried to escape and were shot dead. **Machine guns*** The fugitive inmates are surrounded by Afghan security forces with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and armoured personnel carriers from the Nato-led peace-keepers. Loudspeakers broadcast the message "surrender or die" to the fugitives. Bakhshi said the two dead prisoners had been released from the notorious Shiberghan jail run by warlord Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum in the north. They were arrested in Kabul for criminal offences, he said. Pul-e-Charki is separate from the US detention facilities that hold captured Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters. Hundreds of prisoners were believed to have died in the Shiberghan jail in the aftermath of the fall of the Taleban regime in late 2001. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Afghan security police officers stand guard in front of the Pul-e Charkhi prison's gate in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Dec. 17, 2004. (AP)