COTABATO, Philippines - Three heavily armed men raided the provincial prison in this southern Philippine town, liberating an inmate jailed for the bombing of the city airport, police said.One jail guard was wounded in the gunbattle when the three men, dressed like soldiers and carrying assault rifles, swooped down on the jail, freeing Badrudin Dalungan, a suspected Muslim extremist who was being held for the 2003 bombing of the Cotabato airport. It was one of a series of bombings that racked the southern Philippines and which were seen as attempts to divert the governmentÂ’s attention from its offensive against guerrillas of the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Dalungan and the men who freed him are believed to be a member of a special urban operations squad of the MILF, said city police chief Superintendent Peraco Macacuja. However MILF spokesmen have never admitted Dalungan was a member of the group.
"Lies! All lies!"