State government officials in Nigeria’s central state of Kogi have declared 132 prisoners missing after gunmen, armed with dynamite stormed the Koton Karfe Prison overnight.
“There were 145 prisoners at the time of the attack. One died, eight have been recaptured and four surrendered voluntarily. The rest are at large,” said Jacob Edi, spokesman for Kogi’s Governor Idris Wada.
While Kogi is far south of Boko Haram’s main area of operations, the Islamists claimed a prison raid at the same prison in 2012 and many of the group’s fighters were thought to be in custody there.
About 119 prisoners were freed during the attack in 2012 by Boko Haram insurgents.