8 Policemen, 10 Inmates Killed in Baghdad Jail Mutiny
An insurgent accused of masterminding a bloody Baghdad church siege last year grabbed a policeman's gun mid-interrogation and led a prison mutiny that left eight Iraqi police, including a general, and 10 detainees dead, officials said Sunday.
The incident came as security was tightened in Iraq where authorities fear reprisals from the local branch of al-Qaida after the death of Osama bin Laden in a U.S. special forces raid in Pakistan on Sunday, with 24 policemen already having been killed in a car bomb south of Baghdad on Thursday.
Among those killed in the prison was police Brigadier General Moayed al-Saleh, the head of counter-terrorism for Baghdad's central Karrada district, a lieutenant colonel, and a first lieutenant, a senior counter-terrorism official said.
An interior ministry official confirmed the police death toll.
According to the counter-terrorism official, Hodayfa al-Batawi, who stands accused of planning an October 31 siege on a Baghdad church, managed to grab the weapon of the first lieutenant who was questioning him and shot him dead, before taking hostages and releasing a group of fellow inmates.
The detainees made their way to Saleh's office and shot him in the head.
At that point, they discovered a cache of weapons and grenades, and after killing the lieutenant colonel five of them attempted to break out of the prison by getting into a police vehicle.
Before they could flee, however, security reinforcements arrived and killed the group trying to escape, the counter-terrorism official said.
The remaining five holed up inside the prison and the mutiny did not end until that group was killed at 4:30 am (0130 GMT) on Sunday.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, during a visit to Tunisia Saturday, said it was "likely" that al-Qaida could plan attacks in Iraq to avenge bin Laden's death.
Security forces nationwide tightened security in the wake of a car bombing at a police station in Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Thursday that killed 24 policemen and wounded 72 others.
Source: Agence France Presse
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