More than 110 inmates remain at large following Philippines’ largest jailbreak
The jail, which housed about 1,500 inmates, is a run-down former school building that militants have targeted repeatedly over the past 15 years
Suspected Muslim guerrillas stormed a decrepit jail in one of the major southern cities on Wednesday, freeing 158 inmates and killing a guard, in what authorities said was a bid to free fellow rebels.
Aside from sugar, rubber and coconut plantations, there are areas and camps held by rebels that we cannot easily enter
Thirty-four of the inmates had been recaptured by Thursday morning, adding to five who were killed on Wednesday, jail authorities said, but they emphasised there were many obstacles in the manhunt.
“This is a very wide area. Aside from sugar, rubber and coconut plantations, there are areas and camps held by rebels that we cannot easily enter,” jail warden Peter Bongngat said.
The southern Philippines is home to a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency, as well as extremist gangs that have recently declared allegiance to Islamic State.
The southern region of Mindanao is the ancestral homeland of the Muslim minority in the largely Catholic Philippines.
The badly overcrowded jail in Kidapawan, 950km south of Manila, contained rebels from the various groups as well as members of criminal gangs that thrive in the corruption and poverty of the south.