Eight inmates killed, 32 injured in Baghdad prison attack (Roundup)

Dec 10, 2007, 15:34 GMT

Baghdad - At least eight inmates at a prison in central Baghdad were killed and 32 wounded Monday when three mortar shells struck the facility situated near the Iraqi Interior Ministry, an Iraqi police source said.

The source denied the earlier reports indicating that some prisoners had escaped from Rasafa prison during the shelling.

No further details were immediately available.

Meanwhile, joint US-Iraqi forces indicated that a fire at the Durra oil refinery in southern Baghdad on Monday had resulted from an accidental explosion, according to the US military.

It had been reportedly earlier that a rocket hit a light-oil storage tank, sparking a fire and sending a plume of smoke into the air.

Two firefighters suffered serious burns in the fire, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported, citing a technical source at the refinery.

Also Monday, six volunteer fighters were injured in a blast on Monday that targeted the headquarters of a public committee in central Baquba, VOI quoted a security source as saying.

The attack also caused damage to the building, the report added.

Public committees are formed by local tribespeople who volunteer to help police and the army enforce security and eliminate militants from the al-Qaeda terrorist network and other militias.

This model of volunteer resistance, primarily supported by the United States, was first introduced in Anbar province and its surroundings.

It was well received, and spread into Diyala province and Baghdad, especially in the predominately Sunni and ethnically-mixed areas.

The Iraqi government recently decided to integrate the tribal fighters into the security forces to help combat the ongoing insurgency.

Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, some 60 kilometres south-east of Baghdad, is a flashpoint of insurgency by Iraqi militant groups backed by al-Qaeda operating in Diyala.

A large-scale security offensive mounted by US and Iraqi troops has driven insurgents into nearby villages and countryside in June.

Extreme security measures and an indefinite blanket curfew was imposed around the city of Hillah on Monday during the burial of a local police chief General Qeis al-Maamoury who was killed when his convoy was hit by a blast Sunday.

The city, located some 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.

Local authorities told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that al-Maamoury of the Babil police had died of wounds sustained during the attack in a village north of the city located some 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.

His driver and one of his bodyguards were also killed while two of his guards were wounded.

It was also reported Monday that US-led coalition forces captured four wanted individuals and 23 additional suspects during operations Sunday and Monday targeting al-Qaeda networks in central and northern Iraq.