At least 65 prisoners have escaped from jails in Nifas Mewcha town in Ethiopia’s Amhara regional state after armed men opened fire.
The armed men came in mid night in large numbers and managed to break the jail’s door and freed the prisoners, Deputy Prison Administrator of the region Wube Wonde said on Thursday in a briefing.
The regional police commissioner, Tekola Ayifokeru, says the armed men, who travelled in three vehicles, looted a weapons warehouse.
The police commander said out of 130 prisoners, 65 prisoners had been captured, 16 armed killed and three policemen had been injured.
The commander said that a similar attempt was made last week on a prison about 325km (200 miles) southwest of Nefas Mewcha in the city of Finote Selam.
Inmates from that facility had then been transferred to Nefas Mewcha, where it is suspected they used mobile phones smuggled into the jail to organize the prison break.
Other prisoners who were detained in different police stations were also freed in a similar operation.
MG/abj/PA