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Militants attacked two Iraqi prisons, including notorious Abu Ghraib, with mortars, bombs and gunfire, freeing at least 500 inmates in assaults that cost more than 40 lives/AFP

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At least 500 escape in deadly assaults on Iraqi prisons

Car bombs were detonated near the entrances to the prisons, while three suicide bombers attacked the Taji prison, a police colonel said. Five roadside bombs also exploded near the prison in Taji.

Fighting continued throughout the night as the military deployed aircraft and sent in reinforcements around the two facilities.

The situation was eventually brought under control on Monday morning, according to the colonel.

The interior ministry had issued a statement before (2100 GMT) midnight on Sunday saying the attacks had already been foiled.

A statement released by the ministry on Monday however said that prisoners had escaped and were still on the loose.

“This incident resulted in the escape of a number of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison” but none from that in Taji, the statement said, adding that an initial investigation indicated that some prison guards were culpable.

The attacks on the prisons came a year after Al-Qaeda’s Iraq front group announced it would target the country’s justice system.

“The first priority in this is releasing Muslim prisoners everywhere, and chasing and eliminating judges and investigators and their guards,” said an audio message attributed to the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

Prisons in Iraq have previously been hit by escape attempts, uprisings and other unrest.

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Deadly violence also hit security forces in northern Iraq on Monday.

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