At least 240 prisoners have escaped in a prison break in Nigeria’s north-central Kogi State after gunmen carried out a blitz attack on the facility. 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. The jailbreak in Kogi comes five months after nearly 2000 inmates broke free from a prison in Imo State, southeast Nigeria, after armed men invaded the custodial center and used explosives to blast parts of the prison, authorities said at the time. Nigeria is grappling with one of its worst security crises in recent years as insurgency, separatist conflicts, banditry, and kidnappings for ransom remain on the increase.
SOURCE: CNN