| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Philippine police breaks up jail riot, 11 hurt |
| 2006-05-08 |
| MANILA, May 8 (Reuters) - Philippine police, firing warning shots in the air, broke up a fight between Muslim and Christian prisoners at a detention centre in Manila that injured 11 inmates, officials said on Monday. Agrimero Cruz, a national police spokesman, said dozens of knives and improvised weapons were confiscated from hundreds of prisoners at a four-storey detention centre in Camp Bagong Diwa, site of a 24-hour bloody stand-off in March 2005. "The riot started from a very minor misunderstanding over some petty things between a Muslim and a Christian inmate," Cruz said, denying the violence could be another attempt by prisoners to bolt out of the maximum security facility. He said 11 prisoners -- seven Christians belonging to two criminal gangs and four alleged members of the Muslim militant group Abu Sayyaf -- were brought to a state hospital for the stab wounds they sustained during the riot. "We're still getting to the root of the problem. We're also trying to determine how the improvised weapons were smuggled inside the jail," Cruz added. Police and jail officials said they restored order after nearly two hours of bloody rioting by warning shots and water hoses. Last year, police commandos shot dead 22 suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf after a 24-hour stand-off when the alleged Muslim militants attempted to escape from their prison cells. Jail breaks are common in the impoverished mainly Roman Catholic country in Southeast Asia. Nearly 20 people escaped in three separate police jails outside Manila last week. Since January this year, the police said about 44 people had escaped from detention centres outside the capital Manila. Last year, a total 51 jailbreaks were reported, with nearly 150 people escaping. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 alleged Muslim militants attempted to escape They were not alleged militants. They were convicted ASG terrorists. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-05-08 13:37 |