This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23403564
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Iraq: Security forces killed in two prison attacks | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
At least 37 people, most of them soldiers or police, have been killed in attacks in Iraq. | |
Gunmen attacked two prisons near Baghdad - Taji to the north and Abu Ghraib to the west - killing at least 25 members of the security forces. | |
A suicide bomber killed another 12 people in Mosul, ramming an explosives-packed vehicle into an army convoy. | |
It is unclear who was behind the attacks, but there has been a recent escalation in violence across Iraq. | |
More than 200 people have been killed since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and 2,500 Iraqis have died in violent attacks since April, according to UN figures released this month. | |
Prison raids | |
The prison attacks were launched at about 9:30 pm (1830 GMT) on Sunday night. | |
Gunmen fired mortar rounds at Taji prison, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, and a suicide car bomber then attacked the main gate. | |
At Abu Ghraib jail a group of policemen were killed during a similar mortar attack. | |
Fighting continued throughout the night, and the military deployed aircraft around the two prisons. | |
Islamist militants have claimed that some prisoners were able to escape during the attacks, but officials deny this. | |
In Mosul, on Monday morning, a man drove a vehicle packed with explosives up to a military convoy. | |
"A suicide bomber was following the convoy, and when it stopped in the middle of road he detonated his vehicle right behind it," a policeman told Reuters news agency. | |
A group of soldiers and at least two passers-by were among the dead, officials said. | |
Mosul, 360 km (220 miles) north-west of Baghdad, is one of the Iraq's major flashpoints. | |
Insurgent groups such as al-Qaeda have found Mosul a fertile recruiting ground. | |
It is the capital of the Sunni-dominated Nineveh province, and many Iraqi Sunnis resent the Shia-led government, correspondents say. |