20110808
Reuters
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Five militants escaped from a prison in Nigeria's main oil-hub Port Harcourt on Sunday by using their metal beds as ladders to climb over the walls, a spokesman for the prison said.

Militants, who say they are fighting for a fairer share of the country's oil wealth, have been behind years of sabotage attacks and kidnappings of oil workers in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa's largest oil and gas industry.

An amnesty in 2009 brought a halt to major pipeline attacks but oil theft and abductions still occur.

"Seven inmates escaped but two have been re-arrested. The five escapees are dangerous criminals, notorious militants. We appeal to the public to assist us in re-arresting them," said a spokesman for Port Harcourt prison.

"Breaking was achieved by the use of iron beds as ladders to cross into the waterfronts."

He said 23 other inmates attempted to escape but did not manage to get out of the prison.