Nigeria gunmen free prison inmates

Gunmen have attacked a prison in Nigeria, freeing inmates during a gun battle in an attack similar to one carried out in 2010 by a radical Islamist sect.

All the prisoners are believed to have fled.

The attack happened in Koton-Karifi, a town in Kogi state just south of the nation’s central capital of Abuja.

A prisons spokesman gave no further details but said the attack was on Wednesday night.

The attack comes after a sect known as Boko Haram launched a massive prison break in Bauchi state in September 2010 that freed about 700 inmates there.

No one has claimed responsibility yet for the latest attack.