Guns and dynamite used in latest Nigeria jailbreak

Gunmen have attacked a prison in Oyo state, south-west Nigeria, and freed more than 800 inmates in the third such incident this year.

Those who carried out the attack on Friday were heavily armed, the prison service said.

After an exchange of gunfire with prison officers, the armed men entered the prison yard by blowing holes in the walls with dynamite.

A handful of security centres, including police stations, have been attacked in a similar manner in the past year.

Olanrewaju Anjorin, a spokesman for the Oyo Correctional Centre, told the Associated Press that the gunmen attacked late on Friday.

An investigation into the incident, which will reveal the extent of damage, has begun.

At least 575 inmates, all of whom were awaiting trial, were missing while 262 were recaptured, the prison service said on Saturday.

The prison housed 64 convicts, none of whom escaped.

“While all the awaiting trial detainees were forced out of custody, the cells housing the convicts and the female inmates were not vandalised,” the prison service said.

Nigeria is struggling with security problems across its vast territory, including a spate of abductions of students for ransom by gangs in the northwest and an insurgency in the north-east.

The attack on a prison in Oyo state late on Friday led to more than 800 inmates getting away as walls were blown down

The jail attack in Oyo follows similar attacks in south-eastern Imo state in April, where more than 1,800 inmates were freed. Another 266 prisoners were sprung from prisons in Kogi state, central Nigeria, last month.