British police hunted across the country on Thursday and put ports and airports on alert for a former soldier who escaped from a London prison while awaiting trial on terrorism charges. Opposition politicians demanded to know how Daniel Abed Khalife managed to slip out of medium-security Wandsworth Prison and why he was not being held at a maximum-security facility.

Khalife, 21, is accused of planting fake bombs at a military base and of violating Britain’s Official Secrets Act by gathering information “that could be useful to an enemy”. He was discharged from the British army after his arrest earlier this year and had denied the allegations. His trial was set for November. Police said Khalife was dressed in a kitchen uniform of white T-shirt and red checkered trousers when he escaped from the overcrowded Victorian prison in south London.