Zamboanga City, Philippines - One prisoner was killed while 12 inmates, including a suspected Muslim militant, escaped in a jailbreak in the southern Philippines, police said. The prisoners dug a tunnel out of their cell at the Sulu provincial jail in Patikul town on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila. They escaped before dawn on Tuesday.
Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, provincial police director, said the inmates dug the tunnel with the help of residents living near the jail.
Kasim said one of the inmates was killed when jail guards shot at him as he went into the tunnel.
"A wide-scale manhunt operation is on to track down and recapture the remaining inmates," he said.
Kasim said the escaped prisoners are "very notorious," adding that most of them were facing murder charges.
"One is the most wanted man in the province and one is an Abu Sayyaf suspect, who was jailed for illegal possession of firearms," he added.
The Abu Sayyaf is a Muslim rebel group linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. It has been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines.
