1st LD Writethru: Indian police kill 8 militants who fled from prison

Indian police Monday gunned down eight suspected militants of the banned group Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in an encounter, hours after they escaped from a high-security prison in the central state of Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal.

"The militants were hiding on the outskirts of Bhopal after they escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail early this morning. Though they had no guns, the militants were killed by the police after they attacked them with stolen utensils and attempted to flee," state Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said.

"The police initially tried to wound them, but were ultimately left with no other option than to kill them as they were not ready to give up. Two policemen also sustained injuries in the encounter with the militants," said the official.

The daring jail break took place at the Bhopal Central Jail around 2 a.m. local time. The eight militants had first killed the jail guard with a knife and then used blankets to scale the boundary walls to escape.

The state government has ordered a probe into the incident and suspended the head of the jail. "There will be an investigation into the lapses," the Home Minister said.

This is not the first time that such a jail break by the militants took place. In 2013, some seven militants of the banned group broke the wall of a washroom and escaped from Khandwa Jail, around 280 km from Bhopal.

SIMI was outlawed in 2001. India says the organization has links with Islamic militant groups. The government also blames the banned militant group for blasts in Mumbai in 2003 in which at least 50 people were killed, a claim denied by SIMI. Endit