Two hundred and sixty-six inmates were freed on Sunday after heavily armed gunmen raided a jail in Kabba, Kogi State, blowing up the perimeter fence, authorities have said.
Two officers – a soldier and a policeman – were killed in the attack and two guards went missing, the interior ministry said.
It is the second major jailbreak in Nigeria this year.
According to the authorities, the attackers used explosives to destroy the fence on three sides and engaged guards in a gun battle at the medium-security prison in Kabba.
The Interior Ministry said that 28 out of the 294 inmates at Kabba did not escape.
The prison service had initially put the number of fugitives at 240.
The Nigerian Custodial and Correctional Service said the Kabba jail was established in 2008 with a capacity for 200 inmates.
At the time of the attack there were 224 pre-trial detainees and 70 convicted offenders in the jail, it said.
The interior ministry said there were 15 soldiers, 10 police officers and 10 armed prison guards on duty at the Kabba jail at the time of Sunday’s raid.
