Coordinated late-night assaults on two high-security Iraq prisons have left dozens dead and allowed hundreds of inmates to escape.
Insurgents armed with mortars and machine guns launched the attacks on Taji and Abu Ghraib prisons, which are home to thousands of prisoners, including convicted al-Qaeda militants. Iraq has seen a surge of violence since April, and the assaults on the prison laid bare the degree to which security has eroded in the country in recent months.
According to CBS:
Three lawmakers on the parliament’s security and defense committee said prisoners were able to escape from Abu Ghraib during the attack.
Lawmakers Hakim al-Zamili and Shawan Mohammed Taha each said that about 500 prisoners managed to escape and that a manhunt is under way, although al-Zamili said many of them have since been captured or killed.
“This big security failure shows that the top security commanders have failed to sort out any solutions for the ongoing security deterioration,” Taha said. “The terrorists, not the security forces, are now taking the initiative.”
It’s obviously a terrorist attack carried out by al Qaeda to free convicted terrorists with al Qaeda,”another security official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Although we are hearing that 500 prisoners escaped, Jihadist accounts on Twitter claimed that thousands of prisoners had escaped from the detention facility.
We’ll keep you updated on the latest.
SOURCE: CBS
