Nigeria’s security forces on Thursday recaptured 27 inmates who fled from a prison in the capital in Abuja following an attack claimed by Islamic State, the correctional service said.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s raid on the Kuje prison, which freed around 440 inmates, among them Islamist militants, raising fears that insurgents are venturing from their enclaves in the northeast.
Three of the attackers were killed in the encounter while several others escaped with bullet wounds, a Nigerian Correctional Service spokesperson said in a statement.
The prison attack has raised questions about the security of Nigeria’s correctional facilities, especially those holding suspected militants.
President Muhammadu Buhari briefly visited the prison on Wednesday, where the burnt-out wreckage of a bus and cars marked the scene of the attack.
“I am disappointed with the intelligence system. How can terrorists organize, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?” Buhari said in a statement after the visit.
