Recaptured inmates return to Nigerian prison after suspected jihadist attack

Recaptured inmates who escaped a medium-security prison on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, have been returned to the prison.

Suspected Boko Haram jihadists used guns and explosives to blast their way into Kuje prison on Tuesday night, freeing dozens of their jailed comrades and hundreds of other inmates.

A local resident describes the atmosphere during the jailbreak, saying "at first we thought it was the vigilantes".

The brazen attack came just hours after an ambush on a presidential security convoy in the northwest, in a startling illustration of Nigeria's security challenges.

Residents reported a series of loud explosions and gunfire late Tuesday around the Kuje medium-security prison just 40 kilometres away from the capital and the Aso Rock presidential villa.

Disappointment with intelligence

President Muhammadu Buhari briefly visited the prison on Wednesday, where the burnt-out wreckage of a bus and cars marked the scene of the attack.

"I am disappointed with the intelligence system. How can terrorists organise, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?" Buhari said in a statement after the visit.

The Nigerian leader, who has been under pressure over the country's security challenges, was due to leave on an official trip to Senegal soon after the prison visit.

One security official was killed when the gunmen breached the jail using high-grade explosives.

Close to 600 out of the prisons' 900 inmates had been recaptured by Wednesday evening, while less than 100 were still on the run, according to Nigeria's correctional services spokesman Abubakar Umar said.

Boko Haram is one of the jihadist groups involved in Nigeria's grinding 13-year conflict in the country's northeast.

Nigerian officials sometimes also use "Boko Haram" as a general phrase to refer to jihadists or other armed groups.