Al-Qaeda claims Iraq prison raids in Abu Ghraib and Taji
Al-Qaeda claim responsibility for simultaneous raids on two Iraqi prisons in which more than 500 inmates were reportedly freed.
The statement issued in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, was posted on an online jihadist forum.
It said months of planning went into the highly coordinated assaults on the prisons in Abu Ghraib and Taji that began late on Sunday.
The group dubbed the prison assault operation “Conquering the Tyrants,” and said it involved 12 car bombs and help from prisoners who had managed to obtain weapons on the inside.
It claims to have freed hundreds of prisoners, including more than 500 mujaheddin, or holy fighters. Iraqi officials have said the raids killed dozens.
Police casualties
Suicide bombers drove cars packed with explosives to the gates of the prison on the outskirts of Baghdad and blasted their way into the compound, while gunmen attacked guards with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Other militants took up positions near the main road, fighting off security reinforcements sent from Baghdad as several militants wearing suicide vests entered the prison on foot to help free the inmates.
Ten policemen and four militants were killed in the ensuing clashes, which continued until Monday morning, when military helicopters arrived, helping to regain control.
By that time, hundreds of inmates had succeeded in fleeing Abu Ghraib, the prison made notorious a decade ago by photographs showing abuse of prisoners by US soldiers.
‘Breaking the Walls’
Monday’s attack came exactly a year after the leader of al-Qaeda’s Iraqi branch, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, launched a campaign dubbed “Breaking the Walls” that made freeing its imprisoned members its top priority.
Sunni Islamist militants have in recent months been regaining momentum in their insurgency against Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government, which came to power after the US invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.
“In response to the call of the mujahid (holy warrior) Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to seal the blessed plan of “Breaking the Walls”… the mujaheddin brigades set off after months of preparation and planning to target two of the biggest prisons of the Safavid government,” read the statement.