Jericho prison
Photo: AP
PA arrests 6 jailbreakers
Security forces catch 6 of 15 men, most of Fatah's military wing, who broke out of Jericho prison
Palestinian Security Forces in Jericho arrested six of the 15 prisoners who escaped from a Palestinian Authority prison on Friday.
The prisoners, most of them wanted operatives from Fatah's military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, dug a tunnel to escape from the jail. The PA heightened police deployment pursuant to the incident.
Twelve of the prisoners were wanted men from different parts of the West Bank who had been imprisoned in order to maintain an amnesty agreement between Israel and the PA, which grants pardon to members of terror groups who sign contracts committing them to good behavior.
The Palestinian Authority set up an investigatory committee on Saturday, based on the suspicion that the escaped prisoners had received help from security forces and prison jailers, with the tunnel merely serving as a cover story.
