Nigeria prison attack frees inmates

Police say fighters from armed group Boko Haram broke into jail in northeastern Yobe state and freed 40 prisoners.

Members of Boko Haram, an Islamist armed group from Nigeria, have stormed a prison in Yobe state in the country’s northeast, freeing 40 inmates, police have said, in the latest of a string of attacks blamed on the group.

“There was an attack on the Yobe prison this morning, the Boko Haram sect attacked the prison through the Emir palace, 40 inmates escaped,” Patrick Egbuniwe, Yobe State police commissioner, said on Sunday.

“They attacked with rifles, the police and the joint task force confronted them and the Boko Haram members that were shot were carried away by the sect.”

He said two of the attackers were shot dead and some policemen were injured.

Gun battles between Boko Haram members and security forces in Yobe’s capital Damaturu killed 40 people on Tuesday last week. Boko Haram has been blamed for several prison breaks in the past and one of the group’s few demands has been that its imprisoned members should be freed.