The jailbreak is just the latest mass escape from poorly secured Philippine jails with the incidents often involving Muslim extremists.

Muslim extremists carrying Islamic State group insignia have staged a daring jailbreak in the southern Philippines, freeing 28 detainees in the latest in a series of mass escapes, officials said Sunday.

About 50 heavily armed members of the Maute group raided the local jail in the southern city of Marawi on Saturday, freeing eight comrades who had been arrested barely a week ago, police said.

Twenty other detainees, held for other offences, also escaped in the raid, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Agustine Tello said.

The freed members of the Maute group were arrested on August 22 after soldiers manning an army checkpoint found improvised bombs and pistols in the van they were driving.

The Maute group is one of several Muslim gangs in the southern region of Mindanao, the ancestral homeland of the Muslim minority in the largely Catholic Philippines.

The group has carried out kidnappings and bombings and is believed to have led an attack on an army outpost in the Mindanao town of Butig in February.

The fighting there lasted a week, leaving numerous fatalities and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes as helicopter gunships fought off the attackers.

The gunmen attacking the jail Saturday were seen carrying black flags of the Islamic State group, and bandanas bearing the jihadists' insignia were later found in their base, the military said.

Authorities said they were investigating why the jail's guards did not resist the raid or why security had not been increased after high-risk suspects were brought in.

The jailbreak is just the latest mass escape from poorly secured Philippine jails, with the incidents often involving Muslim extremists.

In 2009, more than 100 armed men raided a jail in the strife-torn southern island of Basilan, freeing 31 prisoners, including several Muslim guerrillas. © AFP, 2016 </s> More than 100 suspected Muslim rebels have stormed a jail in the southern Philippines, killing a guard and allowing 158 inmates to escape, officials said.

Six of the inmates were killed in firefights with pursuing police and army troops, while eight others have been caught and were being returned to the facility, said Senior Inspector Xavier Solda, spokesman for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Initial reports suggested that the gunmen responsible for Wednesday's jailbreak were linked to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), officials said.

The attackers opened fire at guards at the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan city around 1am, prison warden Peter Bongat told a local radio station.

OPINION: Philippines' peace process in tatters

The jail held 1,511 inmates at the time, he said.

"When the attack came, according to the report of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, it was a two-hour firefight" said Dionardo Carlos, Philippine National Police Spokesperson.

"The jail guards were trying to stop the attackers and then our police responded," he said at a press conference.

"Unfortunately, because of the commotion, some inmates escaped using a wooden ladder that they stuck to the wall at the back portion of the jail."

No claim of responsibility

Unconfirmed reports by Filipino officials suggested that the raid was carried out by Satar Mandalondong, a MILF commander. But the MILF group has not claimed responsibility for the jailbreak.

The MILF is the largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines and it is based in the southern region of Mindanao. The group demands more autonomy for the Moro people.

The predominantly Catholic Southeast Asian nation has, for four decades, been fighting rebels in its southern islands.

Wednesday's incident was the latest of several mass escapes from poorly secured Philippine jails, with the incidents often involving southern rebels.

In August, another rebel group called Maute staged a jailbreak in the southern Philippines, freeing 23 detainees.

About 50 heavily armed members of the group raided the local jail in the southern city of Marawi on Mindanao island and freed eight of their members who were arrested a week earlier, police said.

READ MORE: Philippines signs deal with Muslim rebels

In 2009, more than 100 armed men raided a jail in the strife-torn southern island of Basilan, freeing 31 prisoners including several rebel fighters.

The conflict between the rebels and the state in the southern Philippines has left more than 120,000 people dead in the last four decades.

President Rodrigo Duterte is pursuing peace talks with the largest armed Muslim groups, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the MILF.

Smaller bands like the Maute group and the Abu Sayyaf group are not covered by the ceasefires and are not part of the peace process. </s> Soldiers inspecting a vehicle during operations to find the 10 escaped prisoners.

MANILA Three inmates were shot dead and another wounded after escaping from jail on a southern Philippine island that is the stronghold of Islamist militants.

The casualties were among 14 prisoners who escaped from a police station jail in war-torn Jolo, the authorities said.

Jolo is a base of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group and some of the inmates were linked to them, according to provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Mario Buyuccan.

"They cut the bars of the jail and jumped from the second floor to the roof of the municipal hall building next door. Our troops responded, and the inmates were killed and wounded," he told AFP.

The injured inmate was recaptured while soldiers and policemen were chasing the remaining 10 escapees.

The jail had a total of 32 inmates mostly facing drug charges, Senior Supt Buyuccan added.

The Philippines frequently has mass escapes from prisons which are usually overcrowded, poorly maintained and inadequately guarded.

In the country's biggest jailbreak, more than 150 inmates escaped a prison in the southern Philippines in January after about a hundred gunmen stormed the facility.

In May, Islamist militants waving black flags of ISIS went on a rampage in the southern city of Marawi and freed 100 inmates from two jails there. </s> MANILA, Philippines -- A German kidnapped by Somali pirates eight years ago might now be held captive by Islamic militants in the southern Philippines, the country's military said Monday after finding the man's yacht and a woman's body inside.

Abu Sayyaf spokesman Muamar Askali claimed that the militants kidnapped Jurgen Gustav Kantner and killed his female companion while the couple were cruising off neighboring Malaysia's Sabah state, said regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan.

It's not clear why the woman was killed, but it's possible she may have fought back or tried to escape, Tan and another military official said.

Villagers reported finding a dead woman beside a shotgun on board a light blue yacht with the German flag and marked "Rockall," Tan said. The yacht was found off Laparan Island in Sulu province, an area where ransom-seeking militants have held many hostages in jungle camps.

Kantner, 69, and his wife were kidnapped off Somalia on board the Rockall in 2008 and later released by the Somali pirates, Tan said. Authorities did not know whether the woman kidnapped in Somalia was the same woman who was killed in the Philippines.

Troops took custody of the woman's body and the yacht Monday. Both were being examined by police investigators in Tawi-Tawi province near Sulu, the military's Western Mindanao Command said in a statement.

The military said the body was found "naked and had several contusions to the face and was possibly raped."

In Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said German authorities were working with their Philippine counterparts to learn what happened.

"We can and will confirm such reports ... only when German consular employees have really established without doubt, with their own eyes and ears or by other means, that they are correct," Schaefer said. "We're not there yet."

Abu Sayyaf, which is blacklisted by the U.S. and the Philippines as a terrorist organization, holds more than a dozen foreign and local hostages.

Abu Sayyaf and allied gunmen have committed many attacks at sea despite efforts by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia to jointly shore up security along their busy sea border. Indonesians and Malaysians have been kidnapped from tugboats and fishing boats in recent months.

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry confirmed receiving information about the separate kidnappings of two Indonesian skippers of vessels off Sabah over the weekend, saying it was in touch with Malaysian and Philippine government officials about the latest abductions.

Indonesia's government has urged Indonesian crewmen in Sabah to avoid sailing in the risky waters until security has improved, the ministry said.

The kidnappings have continued despite a military offensive against Abu Sayyaf, mainly in Sulu and the nearby island province of Basilan, involving more than 6,000 troops, navy gunboats and rocket-firing aircraft.

Without a known foreign source of funds, Abu Sayyaf has survived mostly on ransom kidnappings, extortion and other acts of banditry.

A confidential Philippine government threat assessment report seen by The Associated Press said the militants pocketed at least $7.3 million from ransom kidnappings in the first six months of the year and have turned to abductions of foreign tugboat crewmen as military offensives restrict their mobility.

Anticipating that Abu Sayyaf may soon demand ransom for the German, Tan appealed for people to follow the Philippine government's no-ransom policy.

"If we give in to ransom, a greater damage will be done. They can use the money to buy arms and to feed their bandits, and that will fuel again the tendency for them to kidnap," Tan said. "It becomes a lucrative business."

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office June 30, has ordered troops to destroy Abu Sayyaf and has ruled out the possibility of any peace talks with the group. He has pursued talks with two other, larger Muslim insurgent groups.

The government report said Abu Sayyaf had 481 fighters with 438 firearms in the first half of the year, but the military reported last week that it had killed 70 of the militants and captured 32 others since July in Basilan and Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province about 590 miles south of Manila.

Information for this article was contributed by Geir Moulson of The Associated Press. </s> KIDAPAWAN, Philippines – More than 130 inmates have escaped in one of the largest jailbreaks in recent years after suspected Muslim rebels attacked a jail in the southern Philippines before dawn on Wednesday, officials said.

Jail warden Superintendent Peter Bongat said a guard was killed and an inmate was wounded in a gunbattle when dozens of gunmen stormed the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan. The city is in Cotabato Province.

READ MORE: Philippines’ Duterte threatens to throw corrupt officials out of a helicopter

Kidapawan police chief Superintendent Leo Ajero said two prisoners of the 132 who escaped had been recaptured, and army troops and police were searching for the others. The jail held more than 1,500 inmates.

Local village leader Alexander Austria told The Associated Press by telephone that he and his men captured one of the men.

He said the exchanges of gunfire woke his village, which was several kilometres from the prison, and he immediately posted guards because of worries the attackers and escaped inmates could enter the village.

READ MORE: Philippines’ Duterte says he personally patrolled streets looking for criminals to kill

“We heard the gunfire and we sprang into action to guard our village,” Austria said.

“We were afraid the escapees could try to enter our village to hide or take hostages.” </s> Philippines jail stormed by armed men, hundreds of prisoners escape

Updated

Authorities in the Philippines are hunting for more than 100 prisoners who escaped a jail on the island of Mindanao last night, after armed men stormed the facility.

The late-night breakout occurred in Kidapawan City, near President Rodrigo Duterte's home town of Davao.

Six of the 158 escapees were killed in firefights with pursuing police and army troops, while eight others were caught and returned to the facility, said senior inspector Xavier Solda, spokesman for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Army troops and police were searching for the others.

Inspector Solda said the heavily armed gunmen emerged from a forest and attacked the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan under the cover of darkness.

Prison officials said the majority of inmates escaped from the back of the jail as guards were fighting off attackers at the front.

Kidapawan police chief Superintendent Leo Ajero said gunfire continued for hours after the attack as army troops and police, some in armoured tanks, hunted through the surrounding forests for the escaped inmates and the gunmen who freed them.

Acting Provincial Jail Warden Superintendent Peter John Bongngat said the attackers were suspected to include members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and guerrillas who broke away from the main Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the Government.

'We heard the gunfire and we sprang into action'

Local village leader Alexander Austria said he and his men captured one of the men.

He said the exchanges of gunfire woke his village, which was several kilometres from the prison, and he immediately posted guards because of worries the attackers and escaped inmates could enter the village.

"We heard the gunfire and we sprang into action to guard our village," Mr Austria said.

"We were afraid the escapees could try to enter our village to hide or take hostages."

The jail held more than 1,500 inmates.

Philippines prisons had a major overcrowding problem even before Mr Duterte began his brutal crackdown on drug users and alleged dealers.

AP

Topics: crime, law-crime-and-justice, unrest-conflict-and-war, philippines

First posted </s> In this photo released by Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), Malacanang Palace, President Rodrigo Duterte, center left, wearing a bullcap and an assault rifle slung on his shoulder, walks with other military officers and security men inside the camp of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Light Armored Division, Friday, July 7, 2017 in the outskirts of Iligan city in southern Philippines. | Photo Credit: AP

Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen abducted four workers in a school in a southern Philippine province where President Rodrigo Duterte visited troops waging an offensive against the militants, officials said on Sunday.

About 20 militants barged into a grade school compound in Sulu province’s Patikul town shortly after midnight Saturday and seized six painters and carpenters, one of whom managed to escape and alerted the police. Army troops later rescued another worker.

Mr. Duterte pinned medals on wounded troops during brief visit on Saturday to Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province about 590 miles (950 km) south of Manila. The tough-talking president has ordered government forces to destroy the ransom-seeking militants who still hold several foreign and Filipino hostages in Sulu’s jungles.

Fourteen inmates, including suspected Abu Sayyaf fighters and drug dealers, meanwhile escaped early Sunday from a jail in a new building that also houses the police headquarters in a government compound in Sulu’s main town of Jolo, officials said.

Three of those who escaped were gunned down by police and another was shot and captured. Army troops were helping police track down the rest with the use of military drones and sniffer dogs, a police statement said.

The new kidnappings and jailbreak reflect the diverse security challenges confronting Mr. Duterte’s administration in the south, where thousands of troops have been separately battling militants aligned with the Islamic State group who laid siege to Marawi city on May 23.

After 55 days of fighting, more than 530 people, including 399 militants and 93 soldiers and police, have died in the violence in the lakeside city, a center of Islamic faith in the southern third of the largely Roman Catholic country.

Troops, backed by airstrikes, are fighting less than 100 remaining militants, who are holding an unspecified number of civilian hostages in four Marawi neighborhoods in an offensive that Mr. Duterte said last week was winding down and may end in about 10 to 15 days. He said that the offensive won’t stop until the last militant is killed. </s> MANILA, Philippines — Abu Sayyaf extremists on Saturday freed a Norwegian man kidnapped a year ago in the southern Philippines with two Canadians who were later beheaded and a Filipino woman who has been released by the ransom-seeking militants, officials said.

Kjartan Sekkingstad was freed in Patikul town in Sulu province and was eventually secured by rebels from the larger Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the government and helped negotiate his release, Philippine government officials said.

Sekkingstad, held in jungle captivity since being kidnapped last September, was to stay overnight at the house of Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari in Sulu and then meet with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday, said Jesus Dureza, who advises Duterte on peace talks with insurgent groups.

When he spoke on the phone with Sekkingstad, Dureza said the Norwegian expressed his gratitude to Duterte.

A plan to fly the freed hostage out of Sulu, a jungle-clad Muslim region about 950 kilometres (590 miles) south of Manila, was scrapped Saturday because of bad weather, Dureza said.

It was not immediately clear whether Sekkingstad had been ransomed off. Duterte suggested in a news conference last month that 50 million pesos ($1 million) had been paid to the militants, but that they continued to hold on to him. The military said Saturday that relentless assaults forced the extremists to release the hostage.

Sekkingstad fell ill while in captivity, according to an army officer who helped monitor the kidnapping.

“Under the intense pressure of focused military operations, the terrorist kidnap-for-ransom Abu Sayyaf group was constrained to release Sekkingstad, as holding him under custody slows down their continued movement,” said military spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo.

Military chief Gen. Ricardo Visaya warned the militants to release their other captives, including a Dutch birdwatcher and Indonesian and Malaysian tugboat crewmen, “or suffer annihilation.”

While Duterte has pursued peace talks with Misuari’s group and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front, he has ordered the military to destroy the Abu Sayyaf, a smaller but more brutal band that the president says aims to establish an Islamic state or caliphate.

“They are no longer hungry for autonomy. They are hungry for a fight to establish a caliphate in Southeast Asia,” Duterte told troops on Saturday, although his predecessors have regarded the militants as a loose collective of bandits.

Sekkingstad was kidnapped from a marina on southern Samal Island on Sept. 21, 2015, with Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall and Hall’s Filipino girlfriend, Marites Flor, sparking a massive land and sea search by Philippine forces.

The Abu Sayyaf demanded a huge ransom for the release of the foreigners, and released videos in which they threatened the captives in a lush jungle clearing where they displayed Islamic State group-style black flags.

Ridsdel was beheaded in April and Hall was decapitated in June after ransom deadlines lapsed. When Flor was freed in June, she recounted in horror how the militants rejoiced while watching the beheadings.

“It’s so painful because I saw them moments before they got beheaded,” Flor told reporters in June in southern Davao city, where she was flown to meet then President-elect Duterte.

“They were watching it and they were happy,” she said of the militants, adding that she did not witness the killings.

Government forces launched a major offensive against the Abu Sayyaf after the beheadings of the Canadians sparked condemnations from then-Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called on other nations not to pay ransoms if their citizens are abducted to discourage the brutal militants from carrying out more kidnappings.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the Philippines for deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Without any known foreign funding, the extremists have relied on ransom kidnappings, extortion and other acts of banditry, and some commanders have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group partly in the hope of obtaining funds. </s> JOLO, Philippines >> Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen abducted four workers in a school in a southern Philippine province where President Rodrigo Duterte visited troops waging an offensive against the militants, officials said Sunday.

About 20 militants barged into a grade school compound in Sulu province’s Patikul town shortly after midnight Saturday and seized six painters and carpenters, one of whom managed to escape and alerted the police. Army troops later rescued another worker.

Duterte pinned medals on wounded troops during a brief visit late Saturday to Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Manila. The tough-talking president has ordered government forces to destroy the ransom-seeking militants, who still hold about 25 foreign and Filipino hostages in Sulu’s jungles.

Meanwhile, 14 inmates, including suspected Abu Sayyaf fighters and drug dealers, escaped early Sunday from a jail in a new building that also houses the police headquarters in a government compound in Sulu’s main town of Jolo, police said.

Three of those who escaped were gunned down by police and another was shot and captured. Army troops were helping police track down the rest with the use of military drones and sniffer dogs, a police statement said.

The new kidnappings and jailbreak reflect the diverse security challenges confronting Duterte’s administration in the south, where thousands of troops have been separately battling militants aligned with the Islamic State group who laid siege to the city of Marawi on May 23.

After nearly two months of fighting, more than 530 people, including 405 militants and 95 soldiers and police, have died in the violence in the lakeside city, a center of Islamic faith in the southern third of the largely Roman Catholic country.

Backed by airstrikes, troops are fighting about 60 to 70 remaining militants, who are holding an unspecified number of civilian hostages in four Marawi communities in an offensive that Duterte said last week was winding down. He said the offensive won’t stop until the last militant is killed.

Duterte, however, has said he would likely extend the martial law he imposed in the south because the situation in Marawi remains critical. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he gave the president his recommendation on the question of extending or ending martial rule last week.

Nearly 400,000 people, including most of Marawi’s 200,000 residents, have been displaced by the crisis and many have yearned to return home amid the misery in overcrowded evacuation centers.

Duterte’s spokesman, Ernesto Abella, however, said Marawi remains fraught with danger, especially for children and women.

“There is no assurance that areas outside the main battle zone are already safe to reside and live in as incidents of cases of stray bullet victims have been reported,” Abella said. “The clearing of the entire city of Marawi of IEDs and booby traps left by terrorists, unexploded ordnance and other explosives is still ongoing. The danger and risks these pose still remain high.”

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.
A new set of kidnappings and a jail break plague Sulu province in the southern region of Mindanao in the Philippines.