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Gunmen Attack Prison in Niger Prison Breakout Thwarted in Niger
(about 4 hours later)
NIAMEY, Niger — Unidentified gunmen on Saturday attacked the central prison in Niger’s capital, opening fire on the guards and killing at least two people, according to a government spokesman. It was not immediately clear whether the assailants had come from inside or outside the jail. NIAMEY, Niger — Three prisoners said to be associated with “terrorist groups” tried to break out of the central prison here in the heart of the capital on Saturday afternoon, officials said, drawing crowds into the streets in a nation anxious after two recent terrorist attacks.
Two security guards were killed and a third was gravely wounded, said the government spokesman, Marou Amadou. He said that the attackers had been captured and that the attack was being investigated. The prisoners were subdued after killing two guards, officials said. Niger’s antiterrorist agency is looking into the episode, the state prosecutor said.
“There are two versions of what happened, and right now we think it’s more likely that they came from inside the jail,” Mr. Amadou said by telephone. Officials refused to say which terrorist group the prisoners were connected to. The justice minister, Marou Amadou, said, “We don’t make those distinctions here — Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Mujao.” Boko Haram is an Islamist group in Nigeria, and Mujao is a regional offshoot of Al Qaeda.
Souleymane Magagi, whose house sits about 350 yards from the gates of the prison, said he believed that the gunmen had infiltrated the prison. The episode brought the capital to a standstill, with nervous soldiers blocking off streets and crowds gathering in the prison neighborhood.
“There is a specific hour at mealtime when relatives of the prisoners are allowed inside the prison with baskets of food for their relatives,” he said. “They took advantage and entered at this moment.” Last month, suicide bombers killed at least 20 people in the towns of Agadez and Arlit.
Defense Minister Karidjo Mahamadou said the situation at the prison “is under control.” Both attacks were claimed by groups affiliated with Al Qaeda that vowed to carry out more assaults in Niger, an impoverished nation engaged in a regional struggle with Islamist militants. It has sent troops to Mali to fight against jihadists there, and it has agreed to host an American drone base whose principal mission is thought to be surveillance.