Prison break

Gunmen free more than 150 inmates in Philippines

Around 100 armed men with links to rebels stormed a prison in the southern Philippines on Wednesday, killing a guard and freeing more than 150 prisoners, some of them Islamic militants, officials said.

The Southeast Asian, majority Roman Catholic nation has for decades been plagued by insurgency by extremist rebels in its southern islands.

The heavily armed gunmen opened fire at guards at the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan. Of the jail’s 1,511 inmates, 158 escaped.

“There are high-value targets in our custody who were the subject of a rescue operation,” jail warden Peter John Bonggat said.

Eight prisoners had since been caught, two had surrendered, while six were killed.

Shirlyn Macasarte, acting governor of North Cotabato, said her office had been tipped off about the plan by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters to free its members as early as last year.

“They were involved in murders and at the same time I think they have experience in bomb making so we watched them closely,” Macasarte said.

The leader of the attackers, known by the alias Commander Derbie, had links with the BIFF, a splinter group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Macasarte said.

In 2014, the government signed a peace deal with the MILF, the biggest Muslim rebel group, but clashes still occur with smaller groups.

Brazil vows overhaul

Meanwhile, in Brazil, Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday proposed an overhaul of the penal system to tackle chronic prison overcrowding a day after 56 inmates were massacred in the deadliest riot in two decades.

He said Brazil needed to improve conditions in jails, which are home to 600,000 inmates, after visiting the prison where violence erupted between rival drug gangs.

In an incident that shocked the nation, machete-wielding gangs decapitated inmates on Monday and threw their bodies over a wall of the penitentiary, which houses more than three times its capacity.