ISLAMABAD 

Unknown gunmen attacked police prisoner vans near the capital Islamabad, police reported on Friday.

Islamabad police confirmed the attack near Sangjani Toll Plaza, stating that no casualties were reported and that all prisoners are safe.

"Yes, there is report of attack on three prisoners vans who were transporting inmates from Islamabad to Attock jail," officials from police emergency control center told Anadolu over the phone.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar later said that 19 prisoners had escaped but were subsequently re-arrested by police.

"Around 20 people attacked on the prisoners vans and four of them have been arrested by police," he told reporters.

The prisoner vans were transporting some 82 workers of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who had been arrested by police during protests earlier this month.

However, PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram rejected the government claim and said no PTI worker fled away from the spot.

"I want to clarify that Police Officer Shabir Tanoli fired on the vans, broke the windows, brought out our workers, and asked them to flee, but all PTI workers, including three members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly, refused to flee and are still with the prisoner van. Media can go and confirm it," he said in a video message.

Akram accused Islamabad police of staging a "drama" to justify re-arresting PTI workers, as a local court had discharged them from the First Information Report (FIR) and ordered their release from jail.