As many as 158 inmates fled the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan City in the southern Philippines early Wednesday after armed men attacked the compound, according to Xavier Solda, the spokesman for the Philippines Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). He said some of the escapees were affiliated with the group, which is fighting for an an autonomous region for Muslims in the southern island of Mindanao, home to a sizable Muslim population, in this mainly Catholic country. Jail warden Superintendent Peter Bongat said a guard was killed and an inmate was wounded in a gunbattle when dozens of gunmen stormed the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan. Acting Provincial Jail Warden Superintendent Peter John Bongngat said the attackers were suspected to include members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and guerrillas who broke away from the main Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the Government. The Philippine government is mired in a decades-long standoff with insurgents from the MILF Muslim minority group which seeks greater autonomy from the central government.
More than 100 prisoners escape in the Philippines after armed suspected Muslim rebels storm a prison in Kidapawan. A prison guard dies.