Sudan army launches manhunt for escaped prisoners

Report from BBC News LIVE Reporting

By Wycliffe Muia, BBC News

Wednesday 26 April 2023 12:27 BST UK - full copy:

Sudan army launches manhunt for escaped prisoners

Sudan's army and the police say they have launched an operation to bring back prisoners who have escaped during the fighting between rival military factions, including war crimes suspect Ahmed Haroun.

The interior ministry said in a statement that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is battling the army, broke into five prisons and released an unknown number of inmates.

The ministry said the raid on Kober Prison in the capital Khartoum led to the killing of two prison warders, and that the RSF released all inmates.

The jailbreaks took place between 21-24 April, according to the ministry.

A Sudanese army spokesman told Sky News Arabia this was a "major security threat".

The spokesman said the army was coordinating with the police to return inmates to prisons. He denied army involvement in the jailbreaks, saying the military "does not have any supervision over prisons".

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