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| Colombian Prison Break Kills 5 |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/26/2001 |
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Leftist rebels blew a hole in the wall of a high-security prison with dynamite and escaped in an operation that left five inmates dead and 12 others injured, authorities said Sunday. The escape began Saturday night when the inmates - members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC - blew a hole in the wall of La Picota prison in Bogota and poured through the opening. Some 100 rebels waiting outside opened fire at prison officers to help their fleeing comrades, said Fabio Campos, the director of the nation's prison system. Officers shot and killed five prisoners and captured 30 others. The number of freed inmates won't be known until authorities complete a head count of the prison's roughly 1,700 inmates, prison spokesman Oscar Galvis said. La Picota holds some of Colombia's most violent criminals - from drug traffickers to leftist rebels to members of a right-wing paramilitary army. Clashes between the groups inside the prison are frequent. Colombia's overcrowded prisons are notoriously unsafe. Inmates often pay officers to escape and police frequently uncover underground tunnels out of the prisons. |
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