The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 8, Lokoja, Ayuba Edeh, has confirmed the killing of two soldiers at a roadblock before the Kabba correctional centre, while over 100 inmates escaped when hoodlums invaded the facility overnight.
The soldiers were said to have mounted a routine checkpoint about 50 metres from the prison situated along the Lokoja- Okebukun-Kabba highway when the hoodlums came and rained bullets on them before invading the prison facility.
An eyewitness account on Monday morning said that the gunmen also sprayed bullets on an uncompleted building where the soldiers normally occupy before they broke into the correctional centre and released over 100 of the inmates.
The account said some of the correctional officers on guard were fatally injured, while one of the soldiers who made an attempt to flee was also hit in the leg.
A source also confirmed that three of the prisoners were rearrested at about 8.00 am on Monday beside Kudon hotel, Kabba, as they tried to board an Ilorin-bound vehicle.
Confirming the incident, Edeh said that the state Commissioner of Police and other heads of security agencies have swung into action to do an assessment of the cause of the invasion.
Our correspondent also learnt that the state controller of the correctional service, along with the state security adviser, Jerry Omodara, have gone to Kabba for an on-the-spot assessment.
