DHAKA: Gunmen armed with dynamite freed at least 50 inmates in a raid on a prison in central Nigeria’s Kogi state, the same facility attacked by Boko Haram militants in 2012.

Police said Monday, reports The Straits Times.

‘They blew up the thing with dynamite,’ national police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu told the media of the attack which took place late Sunday.

‘Up to 50 inmates escaped,’ he said, but added that some have been re-arrested.

Local media have reported much higher figures for the number of prisoners freed.

The Koton Karfi prison in Kogi is thought to hold many suspected Boko Haram fighters, but Ojukwu said the raid was not linked to the five-year Islamist uprising, blaming it instead on ‘criminal activity’.

BDST: 2024 HRS, NOV 03, 2014