Muslim rebels suspected of south Philippines jailbreak
operation,” jail warden Peter John Bonggat said.
The assailants were heavily armed and overwhelmed the 24 guards at the jail, according to 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 told AFP, 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 rundown former school building in a forested, secluded area. Kidapawan, 950 kilometres south of Manila, is home to various Muslim rebel groups, criminal gangs and communist insurgents. “We have many Muslim personalities [in the jail] that are members of various organised, syndicated groups,” Bonggat said.
He said the attackers were believed to be militants who had broken away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the nation’s largest Muslim rebel organisation which is in peace talks with the government.
Six of the escapees were killed and eight captured as security forces hunted them in nearby farmlands throughout yesterday, according to Bonggat.
Acting Provincial Governor Shirlyn Macasarte said authorities had been tipped off that one of the breakaway groups, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, had been planning the jailbreak.
“We had reports that a group of BIFF members wanted to res- cue brothers who were involved in killings and had experience of making bombs,” Macasarte told ABS-CBN television.
Islamic militants have staged a series of raids on poorly funded and secured jails in the south over the past 15 years that have led to escapes, but authorities said yesterday’s was the largest.
“It is the biggest ever jailbreak in our history,” Bureau of Jail Management and Penology spokesman Xavier Solda said.
“We were really underpowered and undermanned.”
The southern region of Mindanao is the ancestral homeland of the Muslim minority in the largely Catholic Philippines.
The MILF, with about 10,000 armed followers, is the largest of the rebel groups that have been fighting since the 1970s for independence or autonomy. Over 120,000 people have been killed in the rebellion.
The MILF has in recent years been observing a ceasefire as part of peace efforts with the government.
MILF spokesman Von al-Haq told AFP the group did not know who the attackers in yesterday’s raid were.
The BIFF is one of several breakaway groups that are determined to continue fighting and have declared allegiance to IS.