- Suspected jihadists smash their way into a prison near Nigeria’s capital, freeing hundreds.
- One security official was killed when the gunmen breached the jail using high-grade explosives.
- Residents reported loud explosions and gunfire late Tuesday near the Kuje medium-security prison.
Suspected jihadists smashed their way into a prison near the Capital city of Nigeria, freeing hundreds of inmates in an operation to free imprisoned comrades, the government said on Wednesday.
The brazen attack on the outskirts of Abuja came just hours after an ambush on a presidential security convoy in the northwest, highlighting Nigeria’s security crisis yet again.
Residents reported loud explosions and gunfire late Tuesday near the Kuje medium-security prison just outside the capital.
Security forces cordoned off streets in the area early Wednesday.
Outside the jail, the burned-out wreckage of a bus and cars marked the scene of the attack, and yellow police tape was stretched across a destroyed part of the prison perimeter.
“We understand they are Boko Haram, they came specifically for their co-conspirators,” senior interior ministry official Shuaibu Belgore told reporters on a visit to the prison.
“Right now we have retrieved about 300 out of about 600 who got out of the jail cells.”
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