An Al-Qaeda front group has claimed brazen assaults on Iraqi prisons that freed hundreds of militants including top leaders, killed more than 40 people and threatened to further erode confidence in the government.
The attacks on the prisons in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, and Taji, north of the capital, illustrate the growing reach of militants and the deteriorating security situation in Iraq.
Spiralling violence in the country has killed more than 630 people so far in July, making it the deadliest month of a year in which more than 2,900 have died in unrest, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
"The mujahideen (holy warriors), after months of preparation and planning, targeted two of the largest prisons of the Safavid government," said a statement signed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, using a pejorative term for Shi'ites.
The statement said "hundreds" of inmates, among them 500 militants, were freed in the attacks.
It also said the operation was the final one in a campaign aimed at freeing prisoners and targeting justice system officials, which was called for in an audio statement attributed to the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, last year.
The statement, posted on a jihadist forum, came as security forces searched for the escapees, said by MPs to number at least 500, before they are able to rejoin the ranks of the militants.
"Dark days are waiting for Iraq. Some of those who escaped are senior leaders of Al-Qaeda, and the operation was executed for this group of leaders," a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Those who escaped will work on committing acts of revenge, most of which might be suicide attacks."
In what appears to have been a carefully planned operation, militants waiting outside the prisons launched their attacks after inmates inside began rioting.
"There were riots and then the prisoners took control of some guns and called the groups that were waiting outside," said the security official.
Militants then attacked with mortar rounds, bombs and gunfire, sparking clashes with security forces that raged for 10 hours. At least 20 security forces members and 21 inmates died.
Officials have declared "a curfew around the two prisons, where ongoing search operations are being conducted," justice ministry spokesman Wissam al-Fraiji told AFP.
Fraiji said 108 escaped prisoners had been recaptured, and reinforcements from the interior and justice ministries have been sent to the two prisons.
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