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- Dubai 04:17 05:37 12:18 15:45 18:54 20:14
Iraqi volunteers from the Anbar province, who joined Iraq's Popular Mobilisation force as part of government efforts to make the fight against the Daesh group a cross-sectarian drive, take part in their first training session at a training base in Amriyat Al Fallujah, on May 8, 2015. (AFP)
Dozens of people were killed and 40 inmates escaped in a bloody prison break north of the Iraqi capital for which the Daesh group claimed responsibility on Saturday.
The interior ministry said six guards and 30 detainees were killed Friday while 40 inmates escaped from the police compound prison in Khalis, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Baghdad.
"One of the prisoners seized a weapon from a guard. After killing him, the inmate headed up to the weapons storage and he seized more weapons," spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan told AFP.
"Clashes erupted inside. We lost a first lieutenant and five policemen, forty prisoners fled. Nine of them were held on terror charges and the rest for common crimes," he said.
Maan added that 30 prisoners who had been held on terrorism charges were killed in the clashes.
The Daesh group gave its own account, in a statement posted on forums, and claimed that it simultaneously targeted police outside the prison.
"Brothers inside the Khalis prison were able to coordinate with brothers outside the prison," the group said.
"Fifteen IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were detonated against army and police convoys and vehicles around the prison," the statement said.
Iraq has been plagued by several prison breaks over the past two years, including in the early days of a huge June 2014 offensive by IS.
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