Philippine Jailbreak Frees 53
More than 50 inmates, including suspected members of an Islamic extremist group, used a smuggled pistol to escape from a southern Philippine prison on Saturday. Police said they had killed at least nine would-be escapees.
Provincial spokesman Christopher Puno said 53 of 137 inmates at the Basilan Provincial Jail, including many members of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, had escaped.
Eight escapees were recaptured, said Senior Inspector William Gadayan, police chief of Isabela, the capital of Basilan province. He said three guards had been injured in the breakout.
The escape came just two days after soldiers outside Isabela killed six alleged Abu Sayyaf members, including Hamsiraji Sali, one of five guerrilla leaders wanted by Washington in the deaths of two American hostages.
Gadayan said the escape may have been in retaliation for Sali’s death and an effort by the Abu Sayyaf to regroup.
Quoting guards, Puno said an inmate’s wife smuggled in a .45-caliber pistol, which the inmates used to overpower the guards. They also seized a shotgun and two M-16 rifles equipped with grenade launchers from the guards, he said.
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