Four killed in Cameroon prison rampage - officials

YAOUNDE, Jan 4 (Reuters) Security forces shot dead four prisoners at a crowded Cameroon jail after detainees went on the rampage, raping female inmates and trying to escape during a strike by warders, security officers said.

Male prisoners at Kondengui maximum security prison in the capital Yaounde broke into the jail's female section early on Tuesday morning and raped inmates, a gendarmerie (paramilitary police) officer told Reuters yesterday, declining to be named.

The deaths occurred as security forces tried to regain control of the jail and stop prisoners escaping, officers said.

''The prisoners were trying to take advantage of an ongoing strike by warders to jump jail,'' a police officer said. He did not wish to be identified because he had no clearance from his superiors to speak to the media.

''They had planned their action very well ... They cut off the electricity supply line to the barbed wire above the prison wall so as to ease their escape,'' he said.

''Security forces within the prison first fired warning shots into the air, but that did not prevent from trying to climb over the wall. We were then obliged to shoot at them to prevent any escape.'' Prisoners also broke into a section of the jail housing senior government officials arrested last year for fraud and embezzlement, and stole cell phones, cash and jewellery from detainees, the gendarmerie officer said.

Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni's office said in a statement late on Tuesday an official inquiry had been ordered. It reminded the warders that their code of ethics bars them from going on strike, but made no specific reference to the deaths.

Yesterday, armed gendarmes, police and members of the central African country's elite rapid intervention unit manned positions around the prison's walls.

Initially built for 800 inmates, the jail houses about 3,800 -- around 15-20 per warder.

Warders at the jail went on strike on December. 28 in protest against poor working conditions and low wages among other complaints.

Colleagues at the New Bell prison in the commercial capital Douala have joined the strike, which has disrupted court proceedings in the two main cities as warders have refused to transport defendants to trial.

REUTERS PDM RK0920