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A grenade explosion during a botched prison break in the Democratic Republic of Congo kills 11 inmates and seriously injures 48 others. Here's more.
Eleven inmates were killed in a botched prison break in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday after one of them pulled the pin on a grenade but didn't throw it.
50 others were wounded in the incident in a prison in the eastern city of Bukavu.
The incident follows a rash of prison violence and escapes in the central African country, including the escape of nearly 1,000 detainees from a high security jail in September.
Provincial police commissioner Gaston Luzembo said the assailant -- a former army colonel who was also injured in the attack -- and 10 of his colleagues were attempting to break out of the notorious prison.
[Gaston Luzembo, Provincial Police Commissioner]:
"At eight this morning one former colonel known as Gwigwi who is a prisoner here came out of his cell with a grenade and gave it to another prisoner who is seriously injured right now. This prisoner was meant to use the grenade to blow the prison gates open so that they could escape. He did not know how to use it and instead he just held it and it went off killing and injuring other prisoners."
The jail is overcrowded and most of the prisoners are serving rape and other sexual violence sentences.
The blast was followed by gunfire and some inmates who had suffered serious injuries were being treated at a local hospital.
An investigation was looking into how the inmate had got the grenade.
