Nine killed in botched prison break after one pulls pin then fails to throw grenade
Nine prisoners have been killed in a botched prison break in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after one of them pulled the pin on a grenade but did not throw it, a police official said.
The incident on Sunday follows a rash of prison violence and escapes in the central African country, including the escape of nearly 1,000 detainees from a high-security jail in September.
"The civilian [prisoner] did not know how to use a grenade. He pulled the pin out but didn't throw it," the provincial chief of police, General Gaston Luzembo, told Reuters.
He said 50 people were wounded in the incident in a prison in the eastern city of Bukavu, and that an investigation was looking into how the prisoner had got hold of the grenade.
Luzembo added that a jailed ex-colonel appeared to be among the masterminds of the attempted escape.
A witness said the early-morning blast at the jail was followed by gunfire and some prisoners who had suffered serious injuries were being treated at a local hospital.
Prisons in Congo, which the UN ranks as one of the least developed countries in the world, are known for overcrowding, tough conditions and shoddy security.
Eastern Congo remains deeply unstable more than eight years after the end of a civil war, with rebels and members of the armed forces both accused of widespread criminality.
