|
|
| Gunmen Attack Iraqi Prison; Free 33 Prisoners |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/27/2006 |
|
About 100 masked gunmen stormed a prison near the Iranian border last week, cutting phone wires, freeing all the inmates and leaving behind a scene of devastation--20 dead policemen, burned-out cars and a smoldering jailhouse. At least 10 attackers were killed in the dawn assault on the Muqdadiyah lockup on the eastern fringe of the Sunni Triangle, police said. The raid showed that the mostly Sunni militants can still assemble a large force, capable of operating in the region virtually at will--even though U.S. and Iraqi military officials said last year the area was no longer an insurgent stronghold. In all, 33 prisoners were freed, including 18 insurgents detained during raids by security forces in the nearby villages of Sansal and Arab, police said. It was the capture of those insurgents that apparently prompted the attack. The 15 other inmates were a mix of suspected insurgents and common criminals. In an Internet posting, the military wing of the Mujaheddin Shura Council, a militant Sunni insurgent group, purportedly claimed it carried out the operation. The posting said the group killed "40 policemen, liberated 33 prisoners and captured weapons." The claim was posted on the Iraqi News Web site. Neither the higher casualty toll among police officers nor the captured weapons could be independently verified. The cutting of the telephone lines made it impossible for jailers or security forces, who apparently did not have cell phones, to call other police for backup. Residents of the town informed authorities of the situation after hearing the firing. With the wires cut, the insurgents had 90 minutes to battle their way into the law-enforcement compound before police reinforcements arrived from the nearby villages of Wajihiyah and Abu Saida, police said. Muqdadiyah is about 25 miles from the Iranian frontier and 60 miles northeast of Baghdad. By the time the insurgents fled, taking away the bodies of many of their dead compatriots, nearly two dozen cars had been shot up and set on fire and the jail was a charred mass of twisted bunk bed frames and smoldering mattresses. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think