World Notes EGYPT

Disguised in guard's uniforms, three of the most notorious inmates of Tura Prison near Cairo beat two jailers unconscious last week, then grabbed their machine guns. Spraying bullets to discourage pursuit, they leaped into a white Fiat parked near the prison and vanished.

The escapees were among 22 members of a Muslim fundamentalist group called Al Jihad (Holy War) convicted in 1982 of murdering Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Officials declared a nationwide manhunt, fearing that the convicts might seek revenge on 44 police officers who were acquitted last month of torturing Jihad members while investigating Sadat's killing.