WARRI- NINE gunmen, suspected to be members of a kidnap gang, in an audacious rescue operation, Wednesday, in Warri, Delta State, ambushed a Nigeria Prisons Service, NPS, Hilux van, and shot dead three warders.

The gangsters, numbering about nine, also successfully freed two notorious kidnap suspects, identified as Rufus and Frank, while one of the inmates lost his life in the emancipation mission.

Two of the critically wounded warders were rushed to the Central Hospital, Warri after the about 45-minute encounter. The names of the five warders that escorted the inmates were given as Lawrence Edore, Ochei Ifeanyi, driver, Enemo, Efe Onakpoya and Oyibo.