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| Southeast Asia |
| Three killed in Mindanao jailbreak |
| 2014-08-31 |
| Philippine troops joined policemen and jail personnel in a manhunt for an undetermined number of detainees who escaped during a jailbreak that triggered a shootout killing three and injuring eight others in the Muslim south. Sr. Supt. John Enguerra, provincial police chief, said the jailbreak was staged by detainees of the Siocon town jail in the early evening Friday. Siocon, a municipality in the greater Zamboanga province, is part of the so-called "Triple S" complex - Siocon, Sirawai and Sirawai - where Muslim militants the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) have a camp, particularly on the hinterland border with Zamboanga City - a majority Christian city in the predominantly Muslim south. Enguerra said escapees and a guard were killed, while two policemen, two other guards and four detainees were injured in a shootout that broke out minutes after the jailbreak was detected. The MNLF besieged Zamboanga on September 13 last year to protest a peace deal between breakaway group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government. The siege left some 300 people dead and over 100,000 displaced. The chief of the armed forces has said that the army is beefing up troops in the area as the anniversary of the attack approaches. In April 2007, a communist band led by Mindanao Regional Guerrilla Unit-Pulang Bagani Command ransacked the armory of the penal farm and seized over 100 guns in a pre-dawn raid in Kidapawan City in North Cotabato. |
| Posted by:ryuge |