2 inmates accused in killing of 10 tourists flee from Pak jail

Two Pakistani militant suspects facing trial for the massacre of 10 foreign climbers two years ago escaped from jail on Friday, an official said.

The 2013 killing of the climbers and their local guide in a pre-dawn attack on their base camp on Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world, dealt a severe blow to Pakistan's mountaineering tourism industry.

Two other prisoners were shot and killed in the jailbreak in northern Gilgit agency early on Friday morning, said Sultan Faisal, the prison's deputy inspector-general.

The four had dug a tunnel from their barracks to the wall of the prison, another jail official said.

The two who escaped were among about a dozen suspected Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants jailed while on trial for the Nanga Parbat massacre, Mr. Faisal said, adding that two jail officials had been suspended pending an investigation.

Victims of the mountain assault included climbers from China, Lithuania, Nepal, Slovakia, Ukraine and one person with joint U.S.-Chinese citizenship. One Chinese climber escaped.