At least 240 prisoners broke out of jail at the Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) in Kabba, Kogi state, north-central of Nigeria, after gunmen overpowered prison officers in a gun battle, killing two soldiers, several sources have confirmed.
Confirming the attack in an official statement, the spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service said the correctional facility in Kogi’s Kabba district came under fire from unidentified gunmen, who raided the site and “immediately engaged the armed guards in a fierce gun battle.””The incident took place at about 2345hrs on 12th September, 2021,” said Francis Enobore, spokesman for the Correctional Service.
Enobore said no fewer than 294 inmates were in custody at the time of the attack, stating that “224 are pre-trial detainees and 70 convicted inmates.
He added that a “recapture procedure” had been activated to find the fleeing inmates.A regional police chief told CNN one policeman was killed during the raid.
“Gunmen in large numbers attacked from all angles and didn’t give the correctional service any opportunity of responding,” said Ede Ayuba Ekpeji, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police for the region.”One police inspector was killed, another police inspector was injured and taken to hospital,” he added. “Three of the escaping prisoners have been rearrested.”No specific category of prisoners was targeted for release by the attackers, Ekpeji said.
Sola Fasure, the spokesman to Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola, said Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Haliru Nababa provided a brief.
Fasure, in a statement, said security officers on duty, comprising 15 soldiers, 10 police officers and 10 armed guards of the NCoS, fought gallantly to repel the attack.
“Regrettably, two officers of the Correctional Service are yet to be accounted for while one soldier and a policeman lost their lives”, he noted.
The Kabba custodial facility had 294 inmates, many of whom escaped after the gunmen used explosives to destroy three sides of the perimeter fence.
However, some voluntarily returned to the facility this morning; 28 inmates didn’t escape after the jailbreak.
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