Hundreds of prisoners were freed yesterday when an armed gang attacked Haiti’s main high-security prison in an audacious jailbreak.

Police spokesman Gary Desrosiers said officials were not sure how many of the 899 inmates had escaped, but 10 had been recaptured.

Local residents said several hundred people came out of the prison, running in every direction, just moments after intense gunfire broke out in the jail.

At least two guards were shot in the attack, which occurred shortly before noon at the Croix-des-Bouquets prison.

The raid was apparently aimed at freeing Clifford Brandt, a businessman who has been imprisoned since 2012 on charges of kidnapping children.

But Mr Desrosiers claimed: “It was a conspiracy inside the prison that caused the escape. There was no attack from outside.”

Haiti’s government has offered a £25,000 reward for information leading to the recapture of Mr Brandt.