Islamic State claims raid on Nigerian prison, 440 inmates on run

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a raid on a Nigerian prison

Islamic State claimed responsibility on Wednesday for a raid on a Nigerian prison in the capital Abuja which freed around 440 inmates, raising fears that insurgents are venturing from their enclaves in the northeast, Qazet.az reports.

Shuaib Belgore, permanent secretary at the interior ministry, told journalists outside the Abuja prison that a security officer was killed during Tuesday night's raid and three others were injured. He said suspected Boko Haram attackers came for members who were held in the prison.

"They came specifically for their co-conspirators, but in order to get them ... some of them are in the general (prison) population so they broke out and other people in that population escaped as well but many of them have returned," Belgore said.

A total of 879 inmates fled, the prison service said in a statement, with 443 still at large and the rest recaptured. Four inmates were dead and 16 others injured, it said.

"They have reported themselves to the police, some we have successfully retrieved from the bushes where they were hiding," Belgore said.