HARARE, December 26. /TASS/. A total of 1,534 inmates escaped from a jail in Mozambique amid the ongoing civil unrest in the country, and 33 people have been killed in the process, the country’s police general commander Bernardino Rafael said.

"A total of 1,534 prisoners, including 29 terrorism convicts, escaped a maximum-security prison around 14 kilometers away from the capital Maputo," the Lusa news agency quoted him as saying. "150 of them have been recaptured. This escape was made possible by the ongoing unrest, encouraged by opposition leader Venancio Mondlane. We are bracing for a spike in criminal activity in Maputo within the next 48 hours."

The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice told the agency that the Maximum Security Penitentiary of Maputo, located just over 14 kilometers from the Mozambican capital, houses more than 3,000 inmates in its high-security wing. More details of the escape are now being established.

Earlier this week, Mozambique’s Constitutional Council re-affirmed the governing Frelimo party’s decades-long hold on power, declaring its candidates winners in the parliamentary and presidential elections that were held on October 9.

Mondlane refused to recognize the official results, threatening the authorities with mass protests. He pledged to declare himself president on January 15 if the Constitutional Council fails to do so.