According to official reports, over 20 people have been killed, and over 2,000 inmates escaped after an attack on a military barracks, a prison, and other locations in Sierra Leone.
The West African country was thrown into chaos in the early hours when gunfire rang out across the capital, Freetown. The government blamed "renegade soldiers" who it claimed were defeated.
President Julius Maada Bio stated in a speech on Sunday that most of the attack's leaders had been apprehended and that attempts were on to apprehend others. He stated that an investigation has been initiated.
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Colonel Issa Bangura, a spokesperson for the army, told Reuters that the fatalities comprised 13 troops, three assailants, a police officer, a civilian, and someone working in private security. According to him, eight people were injured, and three were arrested.
According to a status report received by Reuters on Monday, 1,890 convicts escaped from the Pademba Road central prison after the attackers stormed in. So far, 23 people have returned, according to the report.
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According to Colonel Shek Sulaiman Massaquoi, acting director general of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service, the assailants pushed open the main gate with a vehicle after gunfire and a rocket launcher failed to overcome prison fortifications.
On Monday, a reporter witnessed cell doors smashed open or removed entirely and piles of debris from an ongoing clean-up.
In a statement, police asked inmates to return to prison and offered public rewards for information on the whereabouts of escapees or the attackers.
Sierra Leone, which is still recovering from a civil war that lasted from 1991 to 2002 and killed over 50,000 people, has been tense since Bio was re-elected in June, a result that was disputed by the main opposition candidate and questioned by international partners, including the United States and the European Union.
