Data from the office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Shuaib Belgore, reveals that over 600 inmates fled Kuje prisons when it came under attack late Tuesday night.
While Belgore claimed that the attack on Kuje prison was carried out by Boko Haram terrorists who came specifically for their members held in the custody.
The Islamic State in West Africa Province has claimed responsibility for the attack on Kuje Prison where inmates were freed in Abuja.
The terrorists claimed the responsibility in a video released Wednesday night.
In the video, the terrorists showed how some of its members entered the Kuje prison.
The 38 seconds video showed that the terrorists shot indiscriminately before gaining access into the prison.
The Islamic State’s A’maq Agency first released the video with a caption in Arabic. The caption read, “Fighters of Islamic State attacked Kuje prison in Abuja yesterday and succeeded in releasing many prisoners.”
The Ministry of Interior, however, said about 300 had been recaptured, while 300 were still at large.
Speaking while addressing journalists, he also said an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps was killed during the attack.
“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.
“The initial entry attempt was unsuccessful, then they attacked another section of the wall with higher grade explosives which brought the wall down.
“The forces on the ground did everything they could to repel them but the number they came with was 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 operative while trying to save the situation. The inmates here are 994.
“We understand they are Boko Haram terrorists and came specifically came for their conspirators. Many of them have returned, some were retrieved from the bushes they were hiding, right now we have retrieved about 300 out of about 600 that got out of the jail.”
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