Twenty-one people have been killed in an attempt to escape from detention at the headquarters of Nigeria’s secret police in the capital, officials say. Police said the trouble started when a prisoner beat a guard with his handcuffs in an attempt to escape.
Local media say many of the police detainees are suspected members of the Islamist group Boko Haram.
The group has waged a violent four-year campaign to install a radical form of Islam in the north.
Thousands have been killed since the conflict started in 2009.
At least three million people have been affected, Nigeria’s Red Cross said last week.
