Anti-terror chief among 18 killed in attempted Baghdad jail escape

BAGHDAD // A top al Qa'eda militant led a revolt inside a high-security detention centre in Baghdad yesterday in which at least 18 people died, including a brigadier in charge of a police anti-terrorism and organised crime division.

Abu Huthaifa al Battawi set other prisoners free and murdered a senior anti-terrorism officer before being shot dead while trying to escape in a stolen police car.

Eleven prisoners and seven counter-terrorism officers were killed in the three-hour attempted jailbreak, security officials said.

Al Battawi, known as the "Emir of Baghdad", was in jail accused of masterminding dozens of murders, including the hostage-taking assault on a Catholic church last October in which 68 people died.

Fighting broke out in the interior ministry-run interrogation facility in the capital's Kerrada neighbourhood early yesterday morning, Maj Gen Qassim al Moussawi, spokesman for Baghdad's Operations Command, said.

Al Battawi, who was not handcuffed, overpowered the guard who was transferring him from one room to another, seized his loaded weapon and killed him. The al Qa'eda man then moved from room to room, killing guards and releasing up to 25 other prisoners.

The prisoners took pistols, at least one assault rifle, hand grenades and small-arms ammunition.

They burst into the office of Brigadier Muaeid Mohammed Saleh, who leads an anti-terrorism and organised crime division in eastern Baghdad, and shot him and a colleague dead.

A lengthy gun battle erupted, with some of the prisoners holding off reinforced security units for hours while a small group of detainees, including al Battawi, got into a police car and tried to drive out of the compound. Iraqi officials said the car was hit by a sentry's machinegun fire, killing all those inside before they could escape through the gate.

None of the prisoners escaped, and security forces regained control over the interrogation centre.

A security source inside the interior ministry said the breakout attempt was not spontaneous, and that the prisoners had a clearly worked-out plan.

"It was a well-organised, wel-informed, wel-studied attack; they knew exactly what they were doing and managed to fight off security forces for hours," he said. "It poses serious questions about security measures and the ability of Iraqi forces to deal with this kind of terrorist."

He said it was unclear how such high-profile and dangerous detainees had apparently been in a position to communicate with each another and formulate an escape plan, and why they had been able to move inside the compound lightly guarded and unshackled.

Standard procedures also call for guards accompanying prisoners not to carry loaded weapons, to stop them falling into detainees' hands.

The interior ministry official said he believed the prisoners must have had help from staff inside the centre, although he said it was too early to draw firm conclusions.

Maj Gen al Moussawi admitted that none of the prisoners was shackled, even though Iraq was on high alert after the death of Osama bin Laden and officials said they expected revenge attacks.

The breakout attempt comes at a time of severe political discord in Iraq, with politicians and security officers divided over whether to allow US forces to remain in the country beyond the agreed end-of-year withdrawal date.

Although security has improved markedly in recent years, militants continue to carry out almost daily attacks across key areas of the country, killing scores of civilians and security officers every month. While not as widespread they once were, suicide bombings, assassinations and kidnappings remain common.

Officials in Washington have said time is running out for the Iraqi government to make a decision if it wants to retain a US military presence. The prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, has hinted that some American forces ought to stay on into 2012 to help to maintain security, but the issue threatens a fragile coalition government.

The Sadrists, a key element of Mr al Maliki's administration, have said they will resume a guerrilla war against the US military if it is invited to stay on.

After yesterday's prison attack a number of MPs opposed to keeping US troops adamantly dismissed suggestions the security lapse had highlighted serious incompetence, even inside supposedly elite anti-terrorism units.

"Iraq's security forces are ready and able to safeguard the country when the Americans leave," said Amir al Kinani, a leading Sadrist MP.

"Remember, the reason we have al Qa'eda attacks is because US forces are in Iraq."

Qassim al Araji, a member of parliament's security and defence committee, blamed Washington for failures by Iraq's security forces.

"The Americans and some other countries are not working to make the Iraqi forces strong on purpose, they want us to remain dependent on America so that their military can stay in the country," he said.

Mr al Araji also claimed that, while able to carry out attacks, al Qa'eda no longer posed a serious threat to the nation, and was not in a position to topple the government.

"Al Qa'eda cannot destroy Iraq any more and the security forces will be able to cut off the terrorist network's head if we take the right steps now."

Others disagreed with that assessment. Moaid al Gharnim, a former Baath party official now working as an analyst specialising in militant groups in Iraq, warned that violent extremists saw the planned US pullout as an opportunity to regain control of at least parts of the country.

"Militant groups, including those associated with the Baathists and al Qa'eda, will use the rest of the year to push hard against Iraq and to say they have defeated the Americans and forced them out. They want to take back Iraq."

Yesterday's incident was not the first time senior militant suspects have exposed cracks in security measures. On January 12, men accused of being involved with al Qae'da in Iraq walked out of a high-security facility in the southern city of Basra, after obtaining police uniforms.

nlatif@thenational.ae