Idris Ahmed, Lokoja.
Gunmen suspected to be bandits attacked Kabba Correctional Centre in Kogi state, killing no fewer than seven soldiers, leading to jail break with all 240 inmates escaping.
Sources said about 7 of the soldiers mounting road block along Lokoja – Kabba road some few meters away from the Kabba Correctional centre are said to have been killed with several others injured when the gunmen were on their way to the facility in the early hours of Monday.
An eye witness account said the gunmen also sprayed bullets on an uncompleted building where the soldiers normally hibernate before breaking into the Correctional centre and released the 240 inmates
The account said some of the Correctional Officers on guard were fatally injured while one of the soldiers who made attempt to flee was also hit in the leg.
It was also reported that three of the escaping prisoners were rearrested at about 8.00 am on Monday beside Kudon hotel, Kabba while attempting to board an Ilorin bound vehicle.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 8, Lokoja, AIG Ayuba Edeh, who confirmed the incidence, said the State Commissioner of Police and other heads of security agencies have swung into action to do an assessment of the cause of the jail break.
The state Comptroller of the Correctional Service, who visited the Kabba prison, disclosed that all the 240 inmates escaped following the attack and has assured that they will all be arrested.
He explained that the Kabba Correctional Centre which has a capacity for 200 inmates harbours 240, 70 of whom are serving their sentences, while the remaining 140 are stills awaiting trials.
