By Tansa Musa YAOUNDE, July 2 (Reuters) - Police in Cameroon killed 11 convicts in a gunbattle after they broke out of a remote prison in the centre of the country and stole their jailors' weapons, the justice minister said on Monday. Twenty-eight prisoners were involved in the escape in Yoko, some 400 km (250 miles) north of the capital Yaounde, late last Thursday, wounding the lone warder in the jail's observation post before overpowering two others and taking their weapons. They then broke into the prison registrar's office, stole 15 handguns, two rifles, ammunition and military fatigues before attempting in vain to attack the local military police post and running off into the bush. "In the manhunt that followed, the escapees opened fire on the forces of law and order, and the latter fired back in self-defence," Ahmadou Ali, Cameroon's vice prime minister and justice minister, told reporters. "As I talk to you now, three of the 28 have been recaptured, 11 were killed and 14 are still on the run," he said. Some 200 paramilitary police from a special unit trained to fight bandits had been sent to hunt down those still missing. "Security forces have encircled and cordoned off the whole area and there is no chance of any successful escape whatsoever for the fugitives," Ali said. "I therefore appeal to them to drop the weapons and ammunitions they are holding anywhere they can be seen and surrender themselves to the forces of law and order." Banditry is a long-standing problem in rural Cameroon and President Paul Biya has made fighting crime one of his priorities. But the central African country's prisons are hopelessly overcrowded. Security forces shot dead four prisoners during a riot in a packed jail in January while warders were on strike over working conditions.
