Beirut: Three members of the radical militant group Fatah Al Islam have escaped from Lebanon’s largest prison at Roumieh, northeast of the capital, a security official told AFP on Friday.
“Three prisoners belonging to the Fatah Al Islam group escaped,” said the official, adding that an inquiry had been launched into how the inmates were able to get out.
One of those on the run is Palestinian, the second is from Syria and the third is Algerian, the National News Agency reported.
No immediate details were available on when or how the escape took place, the security official said.
It may have happened as long as a month ago, but was only discovered on Friday when one of the three was due in court, the MTV television channel reported.
Jailed militants have broken out of the overcrowded Roumieh before — another three members of the group escaped on August 13 last year.
Fatah Al Islam battled the Lebanese army in 2007 in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr Al Bared in northern Lebanon.
The fighting killed some 400 people, including 168 soldiers, and deadly clashes also broke out in the nearby port city of Tripoli. Some militant leaders escaped despite a 15-week army siege of the camp.
The militant group is also accused of being behind twin bus bombings in a Christian suburb northeast of Beirut that left three dead and close to 20 wounded in 2007.
