17 killed in escape bid at Iraqi compound
Source: Agencies |
May 9, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DETAINEES linked to al-Qaida tried to overpower their guards at an Iraqi detention facility yesterday morning in violent clashes that left 17 people dead, including six police officers, officials said.
Among the detainees killed was the man accused of plotting an attack last October on a Baghdad church that claimed 68 victims.
The melee at the Ministry of Interior's Baghdad compound raises questions about how a group of prisoners at what is supposed to be one of the most secure facilities in the country managed to launch such a fierce attack.
The detainees, who were accused of belonging to al-Qaida in Iraq, were being moved from a detention room to an interrogation room at the sprawling ministry compound in eastern Baghdad when one of them attacked a guard and wrestled away his weapon, said Qassim al-Moussawi, the top military spokesman in Baghdad.
The detainee killed the guard and then swiftly moved into one of the rooms and killed another guard and took his weapon, al-Moussawi said. In all, the detainees managed to seize four weapons including a Kalashnikov rifle.
The prisoners also entered the office of Brigadier Muaeid Mohammed Saleh, the head of a department responsible for combating terrorism and organized crime in eastern Baghdad, and shot him along with another officer who was in the room, al-Moussawi said.
Al-Moussawi said the assault appeared to have been planned. He said six police and 11 detainees were killed in the ensuing melee which lasted for nearly three hours before Iraqi security forces managed to bring the situation under control.
Among the detainees killed was the man accused of plotting an attack last October on a Baghdad church that claimed 68 victims.
The melee at the Ministry of Interior's Baghdad compound raises questions about how a group of prisoners at what is supposed to be one of the most secure facilities in the country managed to launch such a fierce attack.
The detainees, who were accused of belonging to al-Qaida in Iraq, were being moved from a detention room to an interrogation room at the sprawling ministry compound in eastern Baghdad when one of them attacked a guard and wrestled away his weapon, said Qassim al-Moussawi, the top military spokesman in Baghdad.
The detainee killed the guard and then swiftly moved into one of the rooms and killed another guard and took his weapon, al-Moussawi said. In all, the detainees managed to seize four weapons including a Kalashnikov rifle.
The prisoners also entered the office of Brigadier Muaeid Mohammed Saleh, the head of a department responsible for combating terrorism and organized crime in eastern Baghdad, and shot him along with another officer who was in the room, al-Moussawi said.
Al-Moussawi said the assault appeared to have been planned. He said six police and 11 detainees were killed in the ensuing melee which lasted for nearly three hours before Iraqi security forces managed to bring the situation under control.
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