LAGOS, Nigeria — Gunmen attacked a major police station near Nigeria’s capital Monday that holds members of a radical Islamist sect, freeing prisoners and killing two police officers in the latest assault on the nation’s security forces.
The attack on the Special Anti-Robbery Squad’s station near Abuja comes a day after suicide car bombings at a major military base killed at least 11 people and wounded about 30 others.
While the sect known as Boko Haram has yet to claim the attacks, both strikes bear similarities to other assaults carried out by the group.
The attack on the police station began about 2 a.m. Monday, with a “large number” of gunmen killing the officers and allowing about 30 prisoners inside the facility to escape, federal police spokesman Frank Mba said in a statement. Two suspected gunmen were arrested after the attack, and 25 of the prisoners have been rearrested, Mba said.
An investigation into the attack has begun, Mba said, while the nation’s top police commander has ordered “water-tight security around all government and police-related facilities nationwide.”