Inmates escape from Niger prison that houses extremists
Niger’s interior ministry says search teams are on alert after convicts escaped from the high-security Koutoukale prison on Thursday, July 11. This prison holds Islamist militants.
The ministry did not say how many detainees fled or how they managed to do so. Koutoukale Prison is 50 miles northwest of Niger’s capital, Niamey. In 2016 and 2019, efforts to break out of this institution were foiled.
The prison houses captives from Niger’s fight with armed organizations affiliated with al-Qaida and Islamic State, as well as suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
Tillaberi, the urban commune in the same region as the prison, is under a midnight curfew imposed by local authorities. No further information was offered.
Niger and its neighbours in the central Sahel are at the forefront of combating the growing Islamist threat. This threat has grown since 2012, when al-Qaeda-linked rebels initially captured sections of Mali.
The insurgencies have claimed thousands of lives and displaced over 3 million people, causing a serious humanitarian catastrophe in some of the world’s poorest countries.
