The metropolitan center of Owerri, the Imo State capital was this morning rocked by loud explosions as suspected hoodlums bombed the Correctional Center located in the town and set hundreds of inmates free.
Witnesses disclosed to Daily Episode that the hoodlums arrived the center in the early hours of this morning and engaged the personnel guarding the facility in a gun duel for over three hours before bombing the center with explosives.
This had led to sporadic gunshots by security personnel in the town as they engage the hoodlums in a gun battle and try rearrest the fleeing inmates.
Residents and travellers in the town have scampered for safety and there is heightened apprehensiveness on what the escaped inmates, many of them hardened criminals portend for residents in the town.
At the time of filing this report, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack while an official announcement is being awaited.