Manila: A member of a militant group and seven other Filipino-Muslims escaped from a jail in the southern Philippines early on Tuesday, a senior official said.
Jail guards found out that Said Usman, a member of the Abu Sayyaf Group, and seven other Filipino-Muslims escaped from the provincial jail of Isabela City in Basilan Province at eight Tuesday morning, provincial jail warden Abdul Husin Atalad said in a report to his superiors in Manila.
The prisoners destroyed the wooden ceiling of their cell, allowing them to escape through the roof from where they jumped over the fence of the prison house, explained Atalad in his report, which was forwarded to the justice department.
They were being held for various crimes such as murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, and cattle rustling, said Atalad, adding they were detained in one cell of the detention facility.
Policemen were assigned to pursue the escaped prisoners, said Atalad.
The Abu Sayyaf Group has been blamed for high profile kidnap-for-ransom, beheadings, bombings, and other terror activities in the south and in Metro Manila.
It was established by a relative of the slain Osama Bin Laden in the south in the 90s, authorities said.
It has links with the Jemaah Islamiya, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network.
