Nearly 300 communist rebel supporters have escaped from an understaffed jail in eastern India in a dramatic mass breakout.
Some 299 prisoners fled the jail in Chhattisgarh, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency, after overpowering their guards during a meal.
Three people are reported to have been injured in the breakout, including two guards and a prisoner.
In a similar incident two years ago, Maoist rebels sprung some 200 people free from a prison in eastern Bihar state during assembly polls there after exchanging gunfire with police for two hours.
The Maoist insurgency, which grew out of a peasant uprising in eastern India in 1967, threatens huge swathes of India's centre, east and south and has spread to half of India's 29 states.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described it as the single biggest threat to India's internal security.
The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribal people and landless farmers.
