A jail guard and a rebel were killed when more than 100 suspected Muslim militants stormed the Basilan provincial jail in Isabela City and freed 31 hardened criminals, including suspected Abu Sayyaf Group bandits, at dawn Sunday.

Basilan Vice Governor Al Rasheed Sakalahul said the raiders belonged to the Abu Sayyaf Group who were on board several vehicles when they raided the jail shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday and freed most of the prisoners detained in the facility after destroying the jail wall.

A brief firefight ensued between jail guards and the raiders that resulted in the death of a jail guard and a rebel. Sakalahul failed to identify the slain guard and ASG gunman.

“I was told that there were more than 100 raiders who came in several vehicles and stormed the jail at barangay Sumagdang about 1:45 a.m.,” he said.

“More than half of the inmates in the jail – many of them Abu Sayyaf – had escaped,” he said.

He said many of those who escaped were murderers and ASG militants blamed for the spate of terrorism in key cities in Mindanao.

Sakalahul said police and military operatives are conducting hot pursuit to get back the prisoners. “There is a pursuit operation to get back the escapees. We still don’t know how the gunmen were able to spring out the prisoners. There is an ongoing investigation,” he told reporters.

At least three Abu Sayyaf prisoners – tagged as behind the beheading of 10 soldiers in Basilan – also escaped in December 2008 from the jail after overpowering their guards.

In July 2007, at least 16 hardened criminals, including four Abu Sayyaf militants, escaped from the prison after destroying the windows of their cell.

In April 2004, at least 53 of the more than 130 prisoners at the jail, including 19 ASG members, also escaped using a smuggled .45-caliber pistol which they used in overpowering the guards.

Other reports said the armed men are members of the 114th base command of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Chief Supt. Angel Sunglao of the Police Regional Office 9 said among the escapees were two lawless MILF commanders, identified as Dan Laksaw and Kamsa Limaya. The two are suspected of involvement in the beheading of 10 Marines during a clash in 2007.

Police said Laksaw and Limaya belonged to the MILF 114th base command in Al-Barka town, Basilan.

Sunglao said an investigation is under way to determine if there was collusion and lapses on the part of jail guards in handling the facility.

Police said among the recovered items from the scene were the M16 rifle and magazine pouch of the slain suspect and the sledgehammer and bolt cutter used in tearing down the jail wall.

The Associated Press quoted Sakalahul as saying the heavily armed men cut through padlocks with bolt cutters after using a sledgehammer to destroy the wall to free several detained guerrillas. Other inmates also dashed to freedom, he said.

Sunday's jail attack was the latest violence in Mindanao, scene of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion. It occurred hours before Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales and military chief of staff Gen. Victor Ibrado flew to Basilan, a predominantly Muslim island, to meet Roman Catholic church leaders who have appealed for martial law to be declared in the province amid recent kidnappings blamed on Islamic militants and the beheading of one hostage.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo imposed martial law in nearby Maguindanao province last week to allow troops to crack down on a powerful political clan blamed for the savage massacre of 57 people, including 30 journalists, on Nov. 23.

Arroyo lifted martial law in Maguindanao on Saturday but the province remains under a state of emergency.

On Thursday, about 15 former pro-government militiamen who turned to banditry abducted more than 70 teachers, students and villagers in Agusan del Sur after police tried to arrest them on murder charges. (With a report from the Associated Press)