As this publication reported yesterday, several dozen ISIS- West Africa (ISWAP) stormed the Kuje Medium Security Prison in Nigeria last night, freeing up to 600 prisoners, with at least 60 of them being imprisoned ISIS fighters.
At 1000 EST, Nigerian Defense Minister Magashia admitted that all 64 Boko Haram militants imprisoned in Kuje were now free. The Nigerian Correctional Facility published many accounts of the number escaped, but finally settled on 4 prisoners killed, 16 wounded, and 443 still at large as of 1200 EST today. Nigerian President Buhari was seen visiting the prison around the time of that announcement.
President Buhari expressed his disappointment with Nigerian Intelligence after rumors swirled that Malam Tukur Mamu, the lead negotiator for the Abuja- Kaduna train incident, warned Intelligence officials once he was tipped off by militants about the coming attack.
At 1600 EST, ISIS militants took to RocketChat servers to proclaim their victory, saying that this attack was a sign of expansion of operations into Abuja, Nigeria. They also revealed that the attack was three pronged with a group securing the roads and blocking security forces while two groups assaulted the prison, apparently killing one prison guard. They proclaimed this attack as a part of their “Destroyer of Walls” campaign , indicating more attacks against prisons. Below is a video published by ISWAP claiming responsibility for the attack.
The Islamic State's A'maq Agency also published a video of the attack. If anyone was still in denial about ISWAP's responsibility, here is some more proof. pic.twitter.com/xYOFDV8a9e
— Tomasz Rolbiecki (@TomaszRolbiecki) July 6, 2022
