ABUJA, Nigeria — Islamic State claimed duty on Wednesday for a raid on a Nigerian jail within the capital, Abuja, that freed round 440 inmates, elevating fears that insurgents are venturing from their enclaves within the northeast.
Shuaib Belgore, everlasting secretary at the inside ministry, advised journalists outdoors the Abuja jail — which has 900 inmates — {that a} safety officer was killed in the course of the raid Tuesday night time and three others have been injured. He mentioned suspected Boko Haram attackers got here for members who have been held within the jail.
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“They came specifically for their co-conspirators, but in order to get them … some of them are in the general (prison) population so they broke out and other people in that population escaped as well, but many of them have returned,” Belgore mentioned.
A complete of 879 inmates fled, the jail service mentioned in an announcement, with 443 still at large and the remainder recaptured. Four inmates have been lifeless and 16 others injured, it mentioned.
“They have reported themselves to the police, some we have successfully retrieved from the bushes where they were hiding,” Belgore mentioned.
The raid highlights Nigeria’s safety challenges, that are spreading from the northern areas the place armed insurgents and gangs are rife.
Outside the jail, the charred wreckage of a number of automobiles with bullet holes was seen on Wednesday morning, testifying to gun battles within the neighborhood in the course of the raid.
A helicopter hovered overhead as armed safety officers introduced in a shirtless inmate limping with a gaping wound on his leg, whereas one other injured inmate was carried into the jail.
President Muhammadu Buhari, on his option to his hometown Daura to arrange for the Muslim Eid al-Adha vacation, visited the jail. He questioned the jail’s intelligence system and demanded a report on the assault.
In a separate assault on Wednesday, Buhari’s convoy carrying an advance staff of safety guards, protocol and media officers was ambushed whereas heading to the president’s hometown within the northern state of Katsina. Buhari was not within the convoy.
“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 mentioned in an announcement.