More than 800 inmates escape Tunisian prisons

Tunisia's official news agency says that more than 800 inmates have escaped from two prisons after fires were set in some cells. TAP says that that 522 inmates from the prison in Kasserine escaped after a fire in two cells. Also, Friday another 300 inmates escaped from the Gafsa prison. The two towns are both in Tunisia's centre-west region, some 150 kilometres apart. Personnel at the prison in Gafsa were on strike at the time. Tunisia has been hit with social unrest since the country's long-time autocratic ruler was ousted January 14 in an uprising. Some 11,000 inmates escaped from Tunisian prisons during the unrest shortly after Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali fled into exile.