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Update: 43 prisoners escape, 44 killed in jail break in Iraq's Diyala

Xinhua, May 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Up to 43 inmates escaped a prison in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala amid a riot that killed 33 inmates and 11 policemen, and wounded 17 others, a provincial security source said on Saturday.

Nine of the escaped prisoners were held for terror charges and the rest were accused of criminal charges, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attempt started when a group of detainees took the gun of a guard during his tour late Friday night in the jail of the police headquarters in the city of Khalis, just west of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of the capital Baghdad, the source said.

The inmates later seized more departments of the jail, gained more weapons and clashed with the security forces for more than four hours after reinforcement troops arrived at the scene and retook control of the situation at dawn, the source added.

Earlier, the source put the toll at more than 20 detainees and 10 police officers killed and 15 more policemen wounded by the riot in the prison which held more than 150 detainees.

Prison-breaks frequently occurred in Iraq, including the prison break of Abu Ghraib prison in 2013 when hundreds of inmates escaped, including the mass break out of some 500 al-Qaida militants. Endit