23/07/2013 18:14
Al Qaeda claims Iraq prison raids, says 500 inmates freed
Al Qaeda claimed responsibility on Tuesday for simultaneous raids on two Iraqi prisons and said more than 500 inmates had been set free in the operation, one of its most brazen in Iraq, Reuters reported.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, formed earlier this year through a merger of al Qaeda's affiliates in Syria and Iraq, said it had stormed the high-security jails after months of preparation.
Monday's attacks came exactly a year after the leader of al Qaeda's Iraqi branch, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, launched a "Breaking the Walls" campaign that made freeing its imprisoned members a top priority, the group said in a statement.
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 U.S. invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.
The group said it had deployed suicide attackers, rockets, and 12 car bombs, killing 120 Iraqi guards and SWAT forces in the attacks in Taji and Abu Ghraib, the prison made notorious a decade ago by photographs showing abuse of prisoners by U.S. soldiers.
"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 mujahideen brigades set off after months of preparation and planning to target two of the biggest prisons of the Safavid government," read the statement posted on militant forums.