CAPE TOWN – At least two inmates were shot dead and two others are being treated after an attempted jailbreak in Kosere prison in Nigeria’s south-western Osun State, BBC News Africa reported on Wednesday.
Some inmates were said to have tried to escape the centre during morning sanitation.
According to a spokesperson for the prisons, now known as Nigeria correctional centres, a number of inmates injured a warder and were about to force their way out of the facility when security men stopped them.
He said the four inmates were shot, while the others who wanted to escape ran back, according to BBC News Africa.
Confirming the incident, Osun State Police Command spokesperson SP Yemisi Opalola said that there was an attempt to break out of the facility but it was foiled, adding that further details were yet to be made available pending an investigation, Nigerian website Vanguard News reported.
According to Hindustan Times, a handful of such attacks took place last year as well, with many raising the alarm about the safety of detention facilities in the West African nation.
In 2021 alone, more than 2,000 inmates were freed in two earlier jailbreaks. On September 13, 240 inmates were freed after gunmen attacked a detention facility in north-central Kogi State with explosives, and on April 5 at least 1,800 were freed in the south-east Imo State when another facility was blown up, Hindustan Times reported.
– African News Agency