4 Of 5 Escaped Muslim Militants Caught After Prison Break In Pakistan Accomplices Used Chili Powder To Briefly Blind Guards Before Fleeing

Four of five Islamic militants who escaped from a Pakistani jail after an accomplice temporarily blinded a prison guard by throwing chili pepper in his face have been recaptured, officials said Saturday.

The militants fled the prison in Dera Ghazi Khan, a rural town in eastern Punjab province, on Friday during a visit by eight members of the same Sunni Muslim extremist group.

One of the visitors reportedly asked a prison guard to unlock the cell door so he could bring food to the inmates, who were jailed almost 10 years ago for the killing of an Iranian diplomat.

While the guard’s attention was diverted, the visitor threw chili pepper in the man’s eyes, and three other men burst into the cell and began firing automatic weapons.

Four prison guards were wounded in the ensuing shootout, officials said.

The 13 men escaped in a car waiting outside the jail. Police gave chase and wounded one of the five inmates, who was later captured.

Three other inmates and four of their accomplices were later captured, officials in Dera Ghazi Khan said.

The others were still at large.

As many as 300 people have died in clashes in Pakistan this year between Sunni Muslim extremists and their Shiite Muslim rivals.

The inmates and their visitors were members of the group Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet, which is linked to hundreds of sectarian killings across the Punjab, officials said.

The government has jailed hundreds of extremists under a new law that gives police sweeping arrest and detention powers. Many are being held at the Dera Ghazi Khan jail.

Militant Sunni Muslim groups accuse Iran’s Shiite government of funding and arming Pakistan’s Shiite extremists, a charge Tehran denies.

Most of Pakistan’s 140 million people are Sunni Muslims who live in peace alongside the country’s minority Shiite community. It is only the extremist groups that routinely clash.