By In the late hours of Tuesday, terrorists attacked the Kuje prison in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The gunmen were said to have detonated explosives on the prison walls, as hundreds of inmates escaped from the facility.
Shuaib Belgore, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, confirmed the development to journalists on Wednesday morning.
He disclosed that the attackers were Boko Haram terrorists who came to free their members in the correctional centre.
Belgore said about 600 inmates escaped, but that security operatives have been able to recaptured 300 so far.
“There have been several attacks on our facilities most of them are being repelled, but every now, and then there is one that they have succeeded. In this is one they came very determined with high explosives,” he said.
“The intial entry attempt was unsuccessful then they attack the another section of the wall with higher grade explosives which brought the wall down. The forces on ground did everything they could to repell them, but the number they came with were high which they were not able to defend against.
“They kept on fighting gallantly unfortunately the breach happened. Reinforcement came when they were halfway through it. They were eventually repelled. At the time they came in they killed one NSCDC personnel while trying to safe the situation.
“The inmate here are 994. We understand they are Boko Haram terrorists and came specifically came for their conspirators. Many of them are returned, some where retrieved from the bushes they were hiding right we have retrieved about 300 out of about 600 that got out of the jail.”
He further revealed that an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps was killed during the attack, while three others who sustained injuries are receiving treatment.
It would be recalled that on Tuesday night, the advance security team of President Muhammadu Buhari was ambushed by terrorists in Katsina State where he is scheduled to visit for the Eid-Ul-Adha celebrations this weekend. Two policemen were reportedly killed in the process.
