Suspected militants yesterday staged the Philippines’ biggest jailbreak when they stormed a dilapidated jail in the violence-plagued south of the country, freeing 158 inmates and killing a guard, authorities said.
The attack added to a long history of daring jailbreaks in the southern Philippines, home to a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency, as well as extremist gangs that have declared allegiance to the Islamic State group.
More than 100 armed men believed to have been led by a local guerrilla commander attacked the jail in Kidapawan at about 1am in what appeared to be a well-planned raid to free fellow militants, jail authorities said.
Photo: AP
“There are high-value targets in our custody who were the subject of a rescue operation,” jail warden Peter John Bonggat said.
The assailants were heavily armed and overwhelmed the 24 guards at the jail, said Bonggat, who was involved in the effort to repel the gunmen and said one of his officers had been killed.
At least 158 prisoners escaped, Bonggat said, although it was unclear how many of those were linked to the attackers or were just other inmates who took advantage of the chaos.
Bonggat said the jail, which housed 1,511 inmates, was a run-down former school building located in a forested, secluded area.
Kidapawan, 950km south of Manila, is home to various militants groups, criminal gangs and communist insurgents.
“We have many Muslim personalities [in the jail] that are members of various organized, syndicated groups,” Bonggat said.
He said the attackers were believed to be militants who had broken away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the nation’s largest militant organization, which is in peace talks with the Philippine government.
Acting provincial Governor Shirlyn Macasarte said there were intelligence reports that one of the breakaway groups, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, had been planning the jailbreak.
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