Tiger rebels escape in Sri Lanka jail break

June 4, 2006 (AFP) - Eight inmates, among them two Tamil Tigers being held for firearm offences, broke out of a jail in Sri Lanka's restive eastern province Sunday after overpowering their guards, an official said.









The men, brandishing a firearm, escaped from the main prison in Batticaloa, 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of here, as the guards were about to take the morning head count, a jail official said when contacted by telephone.

"An investigation is under way to find out how they managed to smuggle in a weapon," the senior official said. An intensive search had been launched for the two members of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and six criminal convicts who escaped, he said.