Twelve inmates tunnel out of Nepal prison

KATHMANDU (AFP) - A dozen prisoners including murderers, armed robbers, drug traffickers and extortionists escaped after digging a tunnel out of a jail in south-east Nepal, police said on Friday.

Prison authorities believe the inmates used tools available in the jail to dig a 25 m tunnel before making their escape Thursday night.

"We have found that 12 inmates had planned for more than a month for the escape. They had dug up tunnels," Mr Parshururam Khatri, a police officer in the town of Jhumka, on the border with India, told AFP.

"Seventeen security personnel including a police officer and a prison warden have been suspended.