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Armed attackers have released inmates from a notorious prison in Bahran where political activists are being held, killing one police officer, the country's interior ministry said Sunday.

The ministry said on Twitter that a manhunt had been launched for the attackers and escapees from the Jau Prison, located south of the capital Manama.

"Several convicted terrorists escaped al-Jau prison, security and legal proceedings have been taken," the ministry said.

They also named the policeman who was killed in the raid as Abdulsalam Saif, who died "attempted to prevent some convicts' escape" the ministry confirmed on Twitter.

Since 2011, Bahrain has witnessed numerous anti-government protests by the country's Shia majority demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. 

This has led to the detention and arrest of numerous political figures, activists and clerics. International rights groups have condemned this action, as well as the treatment of prisoners at Jau.

A report published by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy [BIRD] in 2015 detailed a number of allegations against the prison's authorities, inclusing humiliation of prisoners, forced sleep depravation, food depravation, physical abuse and forced disappearences.

A more recent report produced by The Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission (PDRC) in Bahrain said that around half of the prison's inmates were in for "rioting".