Over 150 inmates have escaped a Philippines prison after armed men believed to be part of an Islam separatist group launched an attack in the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan City at 17:00 GMT on Wednesday.

The incident saw a gun war between the members of the separatist group and the jail guards. One guard lost his life during the incident, and one inmate was left nursing serious injuries.

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The facility, which housed over 1,500 inmates, was home to the gun battle that lasted for nearly two hours. The inmates saw this period as an opportunity to escape.

Aljazeera quoted prison warden Peter Bongat explaining the incident and how the prisoners had managed to flee from the facility during a radio briefing.

"It was well planned, they used their bedding, piled them on top of each other to escape," Bongat said.

He added that a manhunt for the escapees is currently ongoing, and so far, at least four have been caught. He also believed that the attack was aimed to free a number of imprisoned Islam rebels.

"The heavily armed attackers are suspected to include members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Fighters and guerrillas. The jail held members of Bangsamoro who were facing murder charges for previous terror attacks in the region," Bongat said.

Meanwhile, BBC ranked the incident as the biggest of all three attacks to have ever taken place in the facility.

In 2007, a successful attack saw 40 inmates escape after guerrillas broke into the facility to save three bombmakers. A similar incident took place four years later allowing other bombmakers to escape.

TagsPhilippines, Prison attack, Prison break, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement