Heavily armed men attacked Oko Federal Prison in Benin with explosives...freed inmates

Ten inmates incarcerated at the Oko Medium Security Prisons, Benin, Edo State, broke out on Sunday after some men attacked the prison premises with explosives.

The raiders, who were armed with both guns and explosives, came to free some of their cohorts, and engaged the warders and the police in a gun battle.

It was reported that the armed men came in a coaster bus, and raided the prison at about 1:30am. They threw dynamite at the prison entrance, blowing up the prison gate to allow the prisoners to escape, and afterwards started shooting violently.

The explosions rocked the community, triggering wide spread panic among the Oko residents, and causing them to make desperate efforts to get the attention of the Joint Task Force (Operation Thunder) to come to their rescue.

A witness recounted that ten inmates escaped, while twelve others were restrained by the police officers and prison warders. It hasn't been confirmed if there were casualties; however, armed security operatives were observed scouring the entire site.

A witness said, "It was like a war. The people looked like militants, as the first thing they did was to throw dynamites to the prison gate. Though some of warders ran away, they later regrouped and started shooting at the people."