"The invaders came at about 7.15 p.m. (1:30 p.m. ET) yesterday and we suspected they used explosives to bring down the gate of the prison and the roof of the gate and thereafter set free 119 inmates," prison authorities spokesman Hadiza Aminu told Reuters.
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The government said an investigation had begun into the attack in Koton-Karifi, a town in Kogi state just south of Nigeria's capital of Abuja.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the prison attack, nor did authorities say they had any suspects immediately in mind.
"One does not really know why" the gunmen attacked, Nigeria Prisons Service spokesman Kayode Odeyemi told The Associated Press. "It might be that some of the armed robbers are trying to free the armed robbers there awaiting trial."
The prison held armed robbers and kidnappers, Odeyemi said. He said he did not know if the prison held any members of a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, which has been carrying out violent attacks over the last year. Aminu told Reuters there were no members of Boko Haram held in the prison.
Islamist sect Boko Haram was [allegedly] behind a prison break in northern Bauchi state in 2010 when about 700 prisoners were freed.
Increasingly sophisticated
Boko Haram, which wants sharia law more widely applied across Africa's most populous nation, has [allegedly] become increasingly sophisticated and deadly in its methods in the last six months.
Although the majority of its attacks occur in its home base in the northeast, its threat has spread. At least 178 people were killed in the sect's most deadly attack last month in Nigeria's largest northern city, Kano.
President Goodluck Jonathan has said Boko Haram members [allegedly] have infiltrated the government and security services and [allegedly] have links with jihadist groups outside Nigeria, including [allegedly] al Qaida's north African wing.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
In most countries, criminal groups are sophisticated enough to avoid getting their more important members sent to prison.
But that means they could also be sophisticated enough to liberate an important member if that person was really needed by the organization. Hundreds have been killed just because one target person was among them. I suppose hundreds could be freed for a similar reason.
The talk of religious radicals is all just verbal decoration. If a group is committing criminal acts, it is probably a criminal group, regardless of what it calls itself, or what the government calls it.
At this time, most governments of the world qualify as criminal groups, and many have always been. This is not, however, inevitable.