At least three inmates who escaped from Singila Prison in Moroto District, Uganda on Wednesday have been killed while seven others were recaptured, prison authorities have confirmed.
Mr Frank Baine, the prisons spokesperson, said a total of 219 inmates managed to escape from the facility which houses 620 prisoners.
More than 200 prisoners have escaped from a jail in Moroto, north-eastern Uganda, bringing the local town to a standstill while security forces try to track them down.
In a bizarre twist, the Singila Prison inmates are said to have taken off their distinctive yellow uniforms and fled naked into the hills to avoid detection.
Mr Baine said that after the incident, a joint security force comprising of the Ugandan army and police was dispatched and spent the whole night patrolling parts of Mt Moroto where the prisoners had climbed.
“By this morning (Thursday), seven of the escapees had been captured and three others are counted dead,” he said.
He says a team from Soroti Prison has been dispatched to reinforce their counterparts at Singila.
“More manpower has been dispatched from Soroti to Moroto to help in hunting for the escapees before they gain access into Kenya where it will be very hard to get them,” he said.
The inmates overpowered prison staff before accessing the armory from which they took at least 15 guns.
In the fire exchange that lasted close to an hour, one Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldier was reportedly shot dead.
Maj Peter Mugisha, the UPDF 3rd Division Spokesperson, said the army is still hunting for the escapees.
Report by Steven Ariong
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