Ugandan authorities have announced manhunt for more than 200 inmates who escaped in a jail break on Wednesday. An eyewitness said, the prisoners were sighted all over the mountain in the area. The site has been put under lockdown as the hunt continues. The inmates also took off with several arms.

Forces are searching for 219 prisoners. Many of the escapees stripped off their yellow uniforms to avoid being identified as they fled into the wilderness in Moroto, in northeastern Uganda. The military said they are hardcore criminals who were jailed for offenses relating to cattle theft.

A spokesman for the Uganda people’s defence force Deo Akiiki said, the prisoners had broken into the armory and took 15 rifles- AK-47s.

The military said at least three persons, a soldier and two of the escapees, died in a firefight as they try to recover the arms.

Several others were also reportedly captured.

The Islamic state group, I.S. has claimed responsibility for an attack on six aid workers in Niger. I.S. militants say they were behind the killing of the six French aid workers, their local guide and driver in Niger last month.

The eight individuals were killed on trip to see some of the last giraffes in west Africa in the Kouré national park. Reports at the time said they were shot by gunmen who arrived on motorbikes.

The AFP news agency reports that the militants said the attack was a “major security lapse” for France. A statement from the group has been published by the us-based site intelligence group which monitors extremist violence.

Militant groups, including Boko Haram, operate in Niger and neighbouring countries. Violence by groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group is reported to be on the rise in the Sahel region.

France has been leading a coalition of west African and European allies against Islamist militants in the region.

Botswana government has ruled that wives can now own land alongside their husbands, for the first time. Until now, the country’s land policy stopped wives from owning land if their husbands already had some as only unmarried women or the wives of men who did not already own land were eligible. The discrimination had left millions of women without access to the land where they live and work.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi said the amended law now gives right to wives to be eligible for allocation of one residential plot at an area of their choice within the country, on both state land and tribal land.

Rights groups have welcomed the change saying it was long overdue.

The president said the new policy will also protect widows and orphans who head households and are in need of land for residential purposes.