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Police Search for 9 in Bogota Prison Break

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From Times Wire Reports

Colombian police were searching for 98 inmates, including 19 Marxist guerrillas, who escaped from a high-security prison in the capital, Bogota, by blasting a hole in a wall.

The jailbreak Saturday--one of the biggest in the nation’s history--began when about 30 rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, set off a bomb along a wall of La Picota prison.

Guards killed five prisoners and wounded 12 others who had hurled grenades and opened fire as they sprinted to freedom.

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Among the escapees were 19 FARC rebels, said Fabio Campo, director of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute.

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