Forty-nine inmates escaped from a Tunisian prison after overpowering guards, a senior official said on Monday, in a further sign of faltering security as a political crisis over popular discontent with Islamist rule festers.Prisons director-general Habib Sboui said 49 inmates broke out of the prison in the town of Gabes on Sunday evening, and that 12 were recaptured a little later.
"They escaped in an ambush in which guards were assaulted, without any shooting," Sboui said in a statement. It was believed the escapees were all common criminals, he said.
Still, the breakout attested to deteriorating security that has been exploited by Islamist militants with a series of attacks, two of which resulted in the killing of two opposition secular politicians that triggered the political crisis. Tunisia has jailed hundreds of Islamist militants over the past year in connection with attacks.
In 2011, thousands of prisoners escaped in Tunisia during the nationwide disorder that followed the fall of autocratic president Zine Al Abidine Ali to a popular revolt.