June 15, 1995, Filipino Reporter, 2 radical Muslim officers flee jail, by Edmund M. Silvestre,

June 15, 1995, Filipino Reporter, 2 radical Muslim officers flee jail, by Edmund M. Silvestre,

Two ranking officers of a Muslim extremist group linked to a spate of bombings -including the 1993 World Trade Center explosion - have escaped from their Manila jail cell, police said last week.

Khadafy Janjalani and Juvenal Bruno, described by police as ranking leaders of the Abu Sayyaf fundamentalist group, escaped Monday through the ceilings of their cells at the national police headquarters, a police spokesman said.

Janjalani is the brother of Abu Sayyaf chief Abubakar Janjalani, while Bruno is the group's intelligence officer. They were arrested on southern Jolo Island in February and brought to Manila for questioning.

Police blamed Abu Sayyaf guerrillas for a savage raid on the southern town of Ipil in April in which 53 people, mostly unarmed civilians, were massacred. The group has also been linked to Ramzi Yousef, who is awaiting trial on charges related to the World Trade Center bombing and to a plot to kill Pope John Paul II during his visit to Manila in January.

Senior police superintendent Robert Delfin said the two escaped from their separate cells by destroying part of a plywood ceiling and then used knotted blankets to climb down from the roof.

The ABS-CBN television station broadcast a taped interview with the two men - but would not disclose where they were.