Uganda’s prison commissioner has disclosed that ground and an aerial manhunt is underway in northeast Uganda where 200 inmates overpowered their guards and escaped with weapons after a shootout.
The prisoners according to commissioner Johnson Byabashaija seized guns from the armory at a government prison in Moroto, about 460 kilometers (286 miles) from Kampala, before dashing for the cover of nearby mountains of Wednesday’s breakout.
According to Uganda’s prison service, about 215 inmates are still on the run it added that it is working with the police and the army with support from the ground and air assets to rearrest the inmates.
One inmate was shot during the escape, three others were recaptured, but the rest are at large, having escaped towards Mount Moroto where the current operation is focusing on at the moment.
Some of the inmates had shed their bright yellow jumpsuits to avoid aerial detection and were on foot half-naked.
He said the jailbreak was “one of the rarest cases of its kind in the history of Uganda’s Prison Service”.
