Guard killed, 119 inmates freed

LAGOS (AP):

Attackers stormed a federal prison in Nigeria with heavy gunfire and explosives, killing one guard and freeing 119 inmates in a new assault demonstrating the continued instability in the nation, an official said yesterday.

The gunmen attacked just after 7 p.m. Wednesday, blasting through the prison gate with a bomb and killing one guard in the process, officials said.

Those inside the prison escaped in the fighting, though authorities had recaptured about 25 of them by late yesterday afternoon, local prison official Hadiza Aminu said.

The government said an investigation had begun into the attack in Koton-Karifi, a town in Kogi state just south of Nigeria's capital of Abuja.

Reason unknown

"One does not really know why" the gunmen attacked, Nigeria Prisons Service spokesman Kayode Odeyemi said. "It might be that some of the armed robbers are trying to free the armed robbers there awaiting trial."

No group immediately claimed responsi-bility for the prison attack, nor did authorities say they had any suspects immediately in mind.

The prison held armed robbers and kidnappers, Odeyemi said. He said he did not know if the prison held any members of a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, which has been plaguing the country with violence over the last year.