VILNIUS, Wednesday 28 July 2010 (AFP) - Lithuanian female prisoners have started knitting socks, gloves and scarves to help poor families in Afghanistan's central Ghor province keep warm in winter, a prison official said Wednesday.

"About 100 or one third of all prisoners -- all those who know how to knit -- are knitting socks, gloves and scarves. They happily joined this goodwill action," Edvardas Norvaisas, director of Panevezys prison, told AFP.

Norvaisas said the campaign at the prison in northern Lithuania would last for a few months.

Lithuanian troops will then take the hand-made clothing to Afghanistan in autumn, when they begin their rotation as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Lithuania is leading a reconstruction team in Afghanistan's Ghor province.