Criminals escape in jail break

Colombo, Jun 4 (UNI) Eight criminals, including two hardcore Tamil Tiger rebels, have escaped in a jail break in the restive Eastern Batticalao district this morning, officials here said.

''The prison-guard officials on duty have complained that eight criminals, including two hardcore LTTE cadres have escaped after threatening them at gunpoint early this morning,'' a top ranking prison official attached to the Batticaloa prison said.

The official said they were arrested by the Security Forces some time ago with firearms and hand grenades, as possession of illegal firearms is a non-bailable offence in Sri Lanka.

''The investigation is underway to probe as to how the prison inmates were able to acquire firearms inside the prison cells, added the official.

Among those who escaped, was a convicted criminal serving sentence for murder cases, while the others were arrested in connection with several vehicle and house robberies in Batticaloa in the recent past.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who run a de facto state in swathes of Sri Lanka's north and east, were not immediately available for comment. Relatively few of their fighters, who carry cyanide capsules around their necks to commit suicide to escape capture, are in Sri Lanka's prisons.

The prison break comes amid a surge in attacks and clashes between the rebels and the military that many analysts and diplomats fear could rekindle a two-decade civil war in which more than 64,000 people died.

UNI XC KD HT1057