Iraq Rocked By Attacks And A Massive Prison Break-Out Of Hundreds Of Al Qaeda Militants

Prisons, Army, Mosque Targeted In Iraq; Nearly 50 Dead -- CNN

(CNN) -- Violence exploded in Iraq over the past 24 hours near Baghdad and in Mosul, leaving nearly 50 people dead.

Security forces battled militants outside two major penitentiaries near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and thwarted prison breaks, the Justice Ministry said Monday. The incidents occurred Sunday night at Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, and al-Taji prison, north of the capital.

The Justice Ministry said well-armed "terrorist groups" attacked the prisons simultaneously by using mortars. They also carried rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, and were accompanied by suicide bombers and car bombs, the ministry said.

The attacks coincided with riots by inmates who set fires inside the prisons, the ministry said. At least 21 inmates and at least eight prison guards were killed, it said, while 25 inmates and 14 guards were wounded.

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More News On The Growing Violence In Iraq

Deadly suicide bombing strikes northern Iraq -- Al Jazeera
Attacks in Iraq kill 13, as toll from previous day’s powerful wave of attacks passes 70 -- Washington Post/AP
Death toll in suicide bomb attack on Iraq army patrol rises to 26 -- UPI
Wave of Attacks Widens in Iraq -- New York Times/AP
Death toll rises in Iraq weekend violence -- Al Jazeera
Al Qaeda assaults Iraqi jails, frees hundreds of prisoners -- Long War Journal
2 Iraq prisons come under coordinated attack, allowing hundreds of inmates to escape -- CBS/AP
Up to 500 ‘Al Qaeda militants’ escape Iraq’s Abu Ghraib in violent break-out -- RT
Abu Ghraib Prison Attacked, al-Qaeda Commanders Escape -- Guardian Express

My Comment: I cannot help but observe as an outsider that Iraq is slowly falling apart.