Nearly 160 inmates escaped in a Philippines prison break on Wednesday after suspected Muslim rebels attacked a jail in the southern part of the country.
The inmates escaped from the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan following the attack that took place before dawn on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
There were at least six people shot dead after a shootout between government forces and the attackers.
The firefight went on for two hours, CNN reported.
According to Reuters, of those shot dead, at least one of them was a guard, and another guard was injured.
Some 100 armed attackers with links to Muslim rebels stormed the prison, freeing 158 prisoners, some of whom are said to be Islamic militants, according to officials.
Since the incident, Xavier Solda, the spokesman for the Philippines Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), told CNN that at least 14 prisoners have been caught and two others have surrendered to authorities.
Shirlyn Macasarte, acting governor of North Cotabato, said her office had been made aware of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters’ (BIFF) plan to free its members.
“We were given intelligence reports (on) December 30,” Acting Provincial Jail Warden Supt. Peter John Bongngat Jr. told CNN Philippines. “We had a conference with the provincial director of the PNP (Philippine National Police) North Cotabato, together with the battalion commander of the Philippine Army.”
“And we were prepared because we were expecting that they will attack us on the evening of New Year,” Bongngat added. “So all security personnel from the PNP, the BJMP and the Philippine Army were readily prepared for that eventuality.”
For decades, Southeast Asia has been “plagued by insurgency by Muslim rebels in its southern islands,” Reuters noted.
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