10 Sep 2011

$US100,000 bounty offered for prison escaper

6:55 pm on 10 September 2011

A bounty of $US100,000 has been placed on the head of a militia leader who broke out of prison in DR Congo's Katanga province on Wednesday.

Some 967 inmates were freed when armed men attacked the prison in Lubumbashi.

Gedeon Kyungu Mutanga, a former commander of the Mai Mai militia movement, remains at large.

Two guards were killed when the masked gunmen drove into Kassapa prison in a minibus - apparently unnoticed - and launched their assault.

About 230 of the prisoners have been recaptured.

The BBC reports prison escapes and mutinies are common in DR Congo.