Story highlights 21 have been recaptured

As many as 158 inmates fled during raid

(CNN) Twenty-one inmates who ran from a Philippine prison during an armed raid have been recaptured, officials said Thursday.

As many as 158 inmates fled the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan City in the southern Philippines on Wednesday after armed men attacked the compound, according to Xavier Solda, the spokesman for the Philippines Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

About 1:15 a.m. local time (12.15 p.m. Tuesday ET) more than 100 armed men attacked the facility, he said. The firefight lasted two hours. One jail officer was killed and another was injured during the conflict.

The inmates escaped through the back portion of the jail as the firefight raged, Solda said. Five of them died during the manhunt operations, officials said. The jail's latest recorded population is 1,511 inmates.

More than 150 inmates of the Mindanao jail escaped the dilapidated facility.

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