The Sierra Leone security forces assured that they managed expel the armed group to the outskirts of the capital that this sunday attacked an army barracks in Freetown and released prisoners.
The Ministry of Information and Civic Education said that security forces are fighting the armed group that attacked the army barracks in the center of the capital, but that they have already managed to repel the action and expel the attackers to the outskirts of Freetown.
“Police forces repelled the attackers to the outskirts of the city and we are currently fighting in the Jui area,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that “Most of the city is calm and under the control of state security forces.”.
The Government also confirmed that “main detention centres, including Pademba Road prison, were also attacked today and that, in the interest of protecting the lives of civilians (including prisoners), security forces were forced to carry out a tactical retreat.”
“The prisons were thus invaded. Some prisoners were kidnapped by attackerswhile many others were released,” the official note says.
Previously, a prison services source had confirmed to the Spanish news agency EFE that a group of armed men invaded Freetown Central Prison, also known as Pademba Road Prison, and freed dozens of prisoners.
The Ministry of Information also highlighted that the headquarters of the public radio and television station SLBC “is neither on fire nor under siege”, thus denying previous information circulated on social networks that took this situation for granted.
“The Government maintains control of the situation,” announced the Ministry of Information in a statement published on social networks, assuming, however, that “the attackers reached the Freetown prisons and that many prisoners escaped”, but without providing more details.
Source: TSF
