By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Dec 12, 2009
MANILA, Philippines – Dozens of suspected Islamic militants knocked down a
concrete wall and barged into a jail in the volatile southern Philippines
on Sunday, freeing 31 inmates in a nighttime attack that sparked a
gunbattle in which two people were killed, officials said.
Vice Governor Al Rasheed Sakalahul of Basilan island said the heavily
armed men cut through padlocks with boltcutters after using a sledgehammer
to destroy the wall at the provincial jail in Isabela city to free several
detained Muslim guerrillas. Other inmates also dashed to freedom, he said.
The daring assault sparked a brief clash that killed one attacker and a
jail guard. The attackers and prisoners fled in several vehicles,
Sakalahul said.
At least 31 inmates escaped, including suspected militants from the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, a large Muslim rebel group engaged in peace
talks with the government, and the smaller but more violent Abu Sayyaf
group, which has been linked to al-Qaida, regional military commander Maj.
Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said.
Among those who escaped were two Moro rebels accused of beheading 10
marines during a 2007 clash, national police spokesman Chief Supt.
Leonardo Espina said.
Government troops and police were pursuing the attackers and the escaped
inmates. Military checkpoints were set up in Isabela, the provincial
capital, and nearby townships, he said.
The rundown provincial jail has had a history of jailbreaks. Three Abu
Sayyaf militants, also accused of beheading the 10 marines, escaped in
December last year after overpowering their guards. At least 16 people,
including four Abu Sayyaf members, escaped in 2007.
In the biggest jailbreak, 53 of the jail's more than 130 inmates
overpowered their guards using a smuggled pistol and fled in 2004.
Nineteen Abu Sayyaf members were among those who escaped, police said.
Sunday's jail attack was the latest violence in the southern Mindanao
region, scene of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion.
It occurred hours before Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales and military
chief of staff Gen. Victor Ibrado flew to Basilan, a predominantly Muslim
island 550 miles (880 kilometers) south of Manila, to meet Roman Catholic
church leaders who have appealed for martial law to be declared in the
province amid recent kidnappings blamed on Islamic militants and the
beheading of one hostage.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo imposed martial law in nearby
Maguindanao province last week to allow troops to crack down on a powerful
political clan blamed for the savage massacre of 57 people, including 30
journalists, on Nov. 23.
Arroyo lifted martial law in Maguindanao on Saturday but the province
remains under a state of emergency.
More than 4,000 troops have been deployed there to restore order, disarm
hundreds of militiamen loyal to the Ampatuan clan and arrest suspects in
the massacre and a rebellion that the government alleged was waged by clan
members. Thousands of assault weapons and large amounts of ammunition have
been dug up in or near the clan's mansions and warehouses.
On Thursday, about 15 former pro-government militiamen who turned to
banditry abducted more than 70 teachers, students and villagers in
Mindanao's Agusan del Sur province after police tried to arrest them on
murder charges.
They later released some of the hostages but demanded that the charges be
dropped before freeing more than 40 others. Government negotiators met the
gunmen again Sunday to try to secure the freedom of the rest of the
hostages, including children and women.
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