Al Qaeda In Iraq Takes Credit For Yesterday's Mass Prison Break-Out

Al Qaeda Says It Freed 500 Inmates In Iraq Jail-Break -- Reuters

(Reuters) - 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.

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 Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail and another, some 20 km (12 miles) north of capital, 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.

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