Boko Haram Gunmen Free 40 From Nigeria Prison LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram stormed a prison in northern Nigeria on Sunday and freed 40 inmates, the police said, in the latest of a string of attacks by the group. The police responded to the attack, in the town of Damaturu, but they were overpowered. Two of the attackers were killed and a number of police officers were wounded, said Patrick Egbuniwe, the police commissioner of Yobe State. "They attacked with rifles, the police and the joint task force confronted them and the Boko Haram members that were shot were carried away by the sect," Mr. Egbuniwe said. Gun battles between sect members and security forces in Damaturu, Yobe's capital, killed 40 people on Tuesday. The government's inability to stem the wave of violence led President Goodluck Jonathan to fire his defense minister and national security adviser on Friday. Boko Haram has been blamed for several prison breaks in the past, and one of its few demands has been that its imprisoned members should be released. The group, which is based in the remote northeast of the country, has rapidly overtaken militants in the oil-producing southern Niger Delta as the country's biggest security threat. It is opposed to any kind of activity linked to Western culture. Hundreds of people have died in months of shootings and bombings attributed to Boko Haram since the movement started its uprising more than two years ago. It is fighting to carve out an Islamic state in Nigeria, a country nearly evenly split between Muslims and Christians. Attacks on churches have intensified this month, setting off mob violence in northern Kaduna State.