The accused Al-Qaeda mastermind of last year’s Baghdad church siege overpowered a policeman, sparking a jail mutiny yesterday in which six Iraqi police and 11 inmates were killed.
The violence came despite tightened security in Iraq, amid fears of reprisal attacks after Osama bin Laden’s killing in a US raid on May 2, and after 24 policemen died in a car bombing south of Baghdad last Thursday.
Among the policemen killed in yesterday’s incident was Brigadier General Moayed al-Saleh, the head of counter-terrorism for Baghdad’s central Karrada district; a lieutenant colonel and two first lieutenants, the capital’s security spokesman Major General Qassim Atta told a news conference.
“This incident was planned well in advance,” Mr Atta told reporters, putting the overall death toll at six police and 11 inmates.
“The criminals were high-level members of the Islamic State of Iraq (Al-Qaeda’s front group). The Prime Minister has ordered a committee to investigate the incident.”
One of the inmates killed was Huthaifa al-Batawi, who stands accused of planning the October 31 siege on a Baghdad church in which 46 hostages and seven security force members died, and who triggered the prison uprising.
According to Mr Atta, Mr Batawi overpowered the police lieutenant who was leading him to an interrogation room at around 10 p.m. last Saturday, taking his weapon and shooting him dead.
Mr Batawi, who was the Baghdad chief of Al-Qaeda’s front group in Baghdad when he was arrested on November 27, then freed several other prisoners, all of whom were arrested with him in connection with the church massacre.
The group killed Mr Saleh and several other officers before a group of four attempted to flee the prison, at which point Iraqi police reinforcements arrived and killed the would-be escapees.
The remainder were holed up inside the prison and the mutiny did not end until that group was also killed at around 4.30 a.m. yesterday.
“Their cases had been transferred to the courts on April 24 but yesterday, the major crimes unit received a tip about a new case against them,” Mr Atta said.
“So, Brigadier General Moayed called for Huthaifa to be interrogated. When the police went to get him, he overpowered him.”
A senior Iraqi counter-terrorism official largely verified Mr Atta’s account, but said that five detainees attempted to escape in a police vehicle before being gunned down.
The detention facility in central Baghdad holds 220 detainees, including 38 who are suspected Al-Qaeda militants, the counter-terror official said.
Those killed in yesterday’s prison mutiny were all suspected members of Al-Qaeda, he added.
In addition to the church siege, which sparked a massive exodus of Christians from the capital and other major cities, the group was accused of being behind bombings against the Al-Arabiya television station’s Baghdad bureau and the killing and setting alight of an Iraqi soldier in the capital.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, during a visit to Tunisia on Saturday, said it was “likely” that Al-Qaeda could plan attacks in Iraq to avenge bin Laden’s death near the Pakistani capital.