Prisoners kill guard in breakout

FOUR inmates escaped from a prison in northern China over the weekend after killing a guard.

The four, two on death row and two serving life sentences, fled in a taxi after their Saturday afternoon breakout from downtown Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Liu Haidong, director of the Hohhot police command center, said the escapees, aged between 21 and 28, carried out their attack and escape while laboring in the prison.

Liu said a janitor was also injured during the breakout.

Last night the four men were still at large.

A manhunt has been launched for the quartet, Gao Bo, Qiao Haiqiang, Dong Jiaji and Li Hongbin.

The Inner Mongolia prison management authority has set up two hotlines - 86-471-2399052 and 86-471-2399028.

Officials said anyone spotting the escapees should call either of the numbers.

On September 10, two prison guards in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were jailed for allowing a death-row inmate to escape.

Chen Qingzhen, deputy chief of the detention center in Guangxi's Zhongshan County, received a five-year term and guard Tao Ende three years.

Tao persuaded Chen to have a sleep during their shift on March 30 so that he could do a deal with inmate Feng Feng who claimed to have 130,000 yuan (US$19,043) in cash and gold hidden in the center.

However, Feng duped Tao, slipped him a sleeping pill and fled in the early hours of the next morning.

Feng was recaptured four days after.

Three inmates who escaped from a prison in Jieshou City in east China's Anhui Province on May 23 were seized five days later. The three had been convicted of theft and robbery.

A fourth inmate had his femoral artery severed on the prison's iron gate during the breakout and died at the scene.

The four shared a ward with 15 other inmates. They staged a mock fight and escaped when officers opened the door to break up the "brawl."

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