23 prisoners, including 8 comrades of Maute group, were freed after a provincial jail was stormed under the pretext of food delivery
Marawi: In a daring jailbreak staged in the southern Phillipines, Muslim extremists who support the Islamic State freed 23 detainees in the latest in a series of mass escapes, officials said yesterday. About 50 heavily armed members of the Maute group raided the local jail in Marawi on Mindanao Island and freed eight comrades who were arrested barely a week ago, police said.
Philippine soldiers guarding members of the Maute extremist group in the southern island of Mindanao, a day after they were arrested. They were freed by their comrades yesterday. Pic/AFP
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Fifteen other detainees, held for other serious offences, also escaped in the raid, said provincial jail warden Acmad Tabao.
Tabao said two women came to the prison gate, asking the guard to take food delivery for the detainees. And when the guard opened the gate, hooded men forced their way into the compound. They overwhelmed the guards, forcing them to their knees and taking two rifles before freeing the inmates. The hooded men shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) before fleeing in a prison vehicle to the nearby lake. The Maute gang members then fled by boat while the other inmates scattered, Tabao said.
At the jail, two bullet holes and a shattered television set were the only evidence of the attack. The eight Maute group members were arrested on August 22 after soldiers manning a checkpoint found improvised bombs and pistols in the van they were driving.
The Maute group is one of several Muslim gangs in Mindanao and is believed to have led an attack on an army outpost in the town of Butig in February.
Authorities said they were investigating the jailbreak and the reason why security had not been increased after high-risk suspects were brought in.
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