Chief Superintendent Agripino Javier, the police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Sunday he launched a hunt for the group that conducted the raid, along with the detainees they freed, PhilStar Global Nation reported.
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In what is being called a “staged raid”, eight militants linked to the Islamic State were freed from jail in the Philippines Saturday.
The escapees were facing murder and drugs charges, police said.
Authorities said they were investigating why the jail’s guards did not resist Saturday’s raid or why security had not been increased after high-risk suspects were brought in.
The eight, jailed Maute members had only been arrested only a few days ago, when soldiers at a checkpoint found homemade bombs and weapons in their van.
It was the latest of several mass escapes from poorly secured Philippine jails, with the incidents often involving Muslim extremists.
The military has blamed the Maute Group – reportedly led by Abdullah and his brother, Omar – for a series of kidnappings in Lanao province in the ARMM and holds it responsible for the beheading of two sawmill workers in Butig town in Lanao del Sur in April.
The southern Philippines has been plagued by Muslim separatist insurgencies for over four decades, with the conflict leaving more than 120,000 dead.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in June, has pursued peace talks with two large Muslim rebel groups, but has ordered troops to destroy the Abu Sayyaf and other hard-line militants.
During the Butig fighting the group’s members were seen carrying black flags of the Islamic State group, and bandanas bearing the extremists’ insignia were found in their base, the military said.
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“Rest assured your PNP is doing our best in coordination with the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] and other government agencies to neutralize this terror group in this part of Mindanao”, Constantino said in a statement.
