The North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan City.PHOTO: COURTESY OF BJMP COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE OFFICE
Suspected Muslim extremists stormed a provincial jail in the war-torn southern Philippine island group of Mindanao early Wednesday (Jan 4), freeing over 130 inmates including suspected bombmakers from a secessionist group.
Reports received by radio stations here said at least 132 inmates escaped, and one jail guard was killed when about 100 armed men attacked the jail in Armas district in Kidapawan city, North Cotabato province, at around 1am on Wednesday.
Felix Capalla, one of the leaders of the inmates who escaped, told radio network DzBB that three of those who were set free were suspected bomb makers from the 105th Command of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a secessionist group that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Superintendent Peter Bongat, the jail warden, told The Philippine Star: “It was not a jail break. It was a planned rescue of certain detainees.”
Apart from the suspected BIFF fighters, about a dozen drug traffickers were among those who escaped.
Abu Misry Mama, a spokesman for the BIFF, denied that his group was behind the attack, according to a report from Catholic radio station dxMS.
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/armed-men-storm-prison-in-southern-philippines-free-more-than-150-inmates
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