Twenty killed, inmates escape in Sierra Leone attack

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00:00 Sierra Leone authorities said Monday that 20 people were killed and nearly 2,000 prisoners

00:07 escaped during Sunday's attack on the capital. Gunfire was heard ringing out across Freetown

00:14 as assailants targeted a military barracks, a prison and other locations.

00:19 An army spokesperson told Reuters that the 20 dead included 13 soldiers, three assailants,

00:26 a police officer, a civilian and someone working in private security.

00:31 The government has since reduced an all-day curfew to a nightly one, and police were checking

00:37 vehicles at checkpoints. Shops and businesses started to reopen on

00:41 Monday afternoon, but the fear among residents remains.

00:48 This woman says it was the first time she had heard a gunshot and that she hid under

00:53 her bed. The government blamed the attacks on renegade

00:56 soldiers and this resident recalled encountering them.

01:01 "Military vehicles approached us and some of the officers said we should shout forcefully,

01:06 'President Madabio must go.' Some of us wanted to answer and some refused to shout. We asked

01:12 them for which reason we should say that and he responded by asking if we had the ability

01:16 to buy expensive bags of rice." Hours after the rampage, President Julius

01:22 Madabio assured citizens calm had been restored and that the attackers would be held to account.

01:30 Last year, anti-government protests erupted over soaring living costs and at least 21

01:37 civilians were killed in the unrest. Sierra Leone, which is still recovering from

01:42 a 1991 to 2002 civil war in which more than 50,000 were killed, has been tense since Biyo

01:50 was re-elected in June.

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