ISABELA, Philippines (AP) — More than 50 inmates, including many suspected members of a Muslim extremist group, used a smuggled handgun to escape from a southern Philippine jail yesterday, officials said. At least eight were killed by police.
Provincial spokesman Christopher Puno said 53 of 137 inmates at the Basilan Provincial Jail, including many members of the Abu Sayyaf group escaped.
Abu Sayyaf has been linked to al Qaeda.
At least eight were killed and eight others were recaptured, said Senior Inspector William Gadayan, police chief of Isabela, the capital city of Basilan. He said three guards were injured in the breakout, one seriously.
The escape occurred two days after soldiers outside Isabela killed six suspected Abu Sayyaf members, including Hamsiraji Sali, one of five guerrilla leaders wanted by Washington in the deaths of two American hostages.
Inspector Gadayan said the escape may have been in retaliation for Sali’s death and an effort by the Abu Sayyaf to regroup.
Quoting guards, Mr. Puno said an inmate’s wife smuggled in a .45-caliber handgun, 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.
At least two of those killed and three who were recaptured were suspected Abu Sayyaf members, he said.
One of them, Janati Janatail, apprehended by government militiamen in the village of Sumagdang outside Isabela, told police one of the leaders of the jailbreak pointed a shotgun at him and several others, warning they would be killed if they did not join the escape.
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