119 set free in attack on jail

Gunmen have stormed a federal prison in Nigeria with heavy gunfire and explosives, freeing 119 inmates in a new assault demonstrating the continued instability in the nation.

The gunmen attacked just after 7pm on Wednesday, blasting through the prison gate and killing one guard in the process, officials said.

Those inside the prison escaped in the fighting, though authorities had recaptured about 25 of them by yesterday afternoon.

“One does not really know why” the gunmen attacked, Nigeria Prisons Service spokesman Kayode Odeyemi said. “It might be that some of the armed robbers are trying to free the armed robbers there awaiting trial.”

The prison held armed robbers and kidnappers, Mr Odeyemi said. He said he did not know if the prison held any members of a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, which has been plaguing the country with violence over the last year. The sect launched a massive prison break in Bauchi state in September 2010 that freed about 700 inmates there.