18 Killed in Baghdad Jail Mutiny

AFP reports:

The accused Al-Qaeda mastermind of last year's Baghdad church siege overpowered a policeman, sparking a jail mutiny on Sunday 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 Sunday'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," 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 Atta, Batawi overpowered the police lieutenant who was leading him to an interrogation room at around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Saturday, taking his weapon and shooting him dead.