Twenty people were killed and almost 2,000 prisoners escaped during attacks last Sunday (26) on a military barracks, a prison and other locations in Sierra Leone, the country’s authorities said on Monday (27).
The West African country panicked in the early hours of Sunday when attackers opened fire on the capital Freetown. The government blamed “renegade soldiers” who it said were repelled.
President Julius Maada Bio said in a speech that most of the leaders of the attack had been arrested and that efforts to arrest others were underway. An investigation has been launched, he said.
Army spokesman Colonel Issa Bangura told Reuters the 20 dead included 13 soldiers, three attackers, a police officer, a civilian and someone working in private security.
Eight people were injured and three were arrested, he added.
Some 1,890 inmates escaped from the Pademba Road central prison after attackers broke in, according to a situation report that prison authorities shared with Reuters on Monday. So far, 23 have been captured, he added.
In a two-hour operation, the attackers broke into the main gate with a vehicle after gunfire and a rocket launcher failed to breach the prison’s defenses, said Col. Shek Sulaiman Massaquoi, acting director-general of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service. .
Inside the prison on Monday, a Reuters reporter saw cell doors broken down or completely removed, as well as piles of trash from an ongoing cleanup.
Police urged those arrested to return to prison in a statement released on Monday, and offered rewards to the public for details on the whereabouts of the escapees or attackers.
Attempt at peace
Routine began to return to normal in Freetown on Monday afternoon (27), when shops and businesses opened, after the government reduced the all-day curfew to nighttime.
In a demonstration of a return to normality, Bio’s account on X, formerly Twitter, shared a photo of the president behind his desk in his office, saying he was at work.
“The task before us is too great and urgent to be derailed by those who seek to truncate the peace and security we enjoy as a country,” he said in the post.
Sierra Leone, which is still recovering from the civil war that lasted from 1991 to 2002, in which more than 50,000 people were killed, has been experiencing an environment of tension since the re-election of Julius Maada Bio in June.
The election result was rejected by the main opposition candidate and questioned by international partners, including the United States and the European Union.
In August 2022, at least 21 civilians and six police officers were killed in anti-government protests.
Source: CNN Brasil
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