By Martin Cole-
Over 400 prisoners are missing following a dramatic raid on a prison in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, officials say.
Four inmates, a security guard and several attackers were killed after the prison was targeted on Tuesday night, officials have said.
Islamist militant group Boko Haram is suspected of carrying out the attack, and dozens of its members are on the run, the defence minister said.
Over 5,000 inmates have escaped in jailbreaks in Nigeria since 2020.
The goal of the operation was to release jailed comrades, and in the process hundreds of other inmates escaped during the chaos.
The attack on the outskirts of Abuja exemplifies some of the serious challenges Nigeria faces in addressing its serious security concerns.
Residents reported loud explosions and gunfire near the Kuje medium-security prison just outside the capital.
Loud explosions and gunfire were heard near the Kuje medium-security prison, just outside the capital, on Tuesday night when the attack happened.
“We heard shooting on my street. We thought it was armed robbers,” a local resident told AFP news agency. “The first explosion came after the shooting. Then a second one sounded and then a third.”
As well as the four inmates killed, 16 others were also injured during the attack, Nigeria’s correctional service said.
A number of high-profile detainees, including suspected militants and jailed politicians, were in the facility at the time of the attack. But the correctional service said jailed senior officials were not among those who had escaped.
Almost 1,000 inmates were in the facility when the attack took place, according to officials. Almost all of them initially escaped but 443 have since been recaptured.
Defence Minister Bashir Magashi told reporters that Boko Haram militants had “mostly likely” carried out the attack and that 64 jailed jihadists had escaped from the prison.
“None of them are inside the prison, they have all escaped,” he said.
This latest attack in the capital has been described by many in Nigeria as another indication of the country’s worsening insecurity.
Under Control
Authorities say the ‘situation is under control’, and that suspected Boko Haram members came for comrades held in prison. Armed attackers have raided a prison near the capital of Nigeria, where residents reported hearing several explosions.
The Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre on the outskirts of Abuja came under attack late on Tuesday, authorities said. “The armed squad of the Nigerian Correctional Service and other security agencies attached to the Custodial centre have responded and calm has been restored to the facility and the situation is under control,” a prison service spokesman said in a statement.
Shuaib Belgore, permanent secretary at the interior ministry, told journalists outside the prison – which has 900 inmates – that a security officer was killed during the raid and three others were injured.
The raid and a separate ambush on an advance convoy of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari — who was not present — heading to his hometown in the northern state of Katsina, highlights Nigeria’s going security challenges, especially in northern regions where armed insurgents and gangs are rife.
A helicopter hovered overhead as armed security officials brought in a shirtless inmate limping with a gaping wound on his leg, while another injured inmate was carried into the prison.
Buhari was not in the convoy of cars carrying an advance team of security guards, protocol and media officers heading to the president’s hometown Daura, near the border with Niger, to prepare for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.
“The attackers opened fire on the convoy from ambush positions but were repelled by the military, police and security personnel accompanying the convoy,” a presidential spokesman said in a statement.
Shuaib Belgore, permanent secretary at the interior ministry, told journalists outside the Abuja prison — which has 900 inmates — that a security officer was killed during the raid and three others were injured. He said the suspected Boko Haram attackers came for members who were held in the prison.
Image:nigerianvoice.com