On the photo: After the attack on central prison of Tikrit
Sources from Iraq reported details of the assault on a prison in Tikrit (see the map) which was carried out on Thursday, September 27, as part of a new campaign, Demolition of Walls, to free Muslim prisoners, writes the website UmmaNews.
The Mujahideen of the Islamic State of Iraq stormed the central prison, freeing more than 250 Sunni Muslims, including 81 commanders of Al-Qaeda. Almost all of them were sentenced to death by the Shiite regime.
The Operation Demolition of Walls began with the blowing up of an explosives-laden car near the main gates of the prison. The gates were completely destroyed. According to some data, there was a martyr (Insha'Allah) driving a car. After that, the Mujahideen, disguised as policemen, broke in.
During the ensuing battle between the Mujahideen and the puppets, some prisoners overpowered the guards and used their weapons to fight.
During the exchange of fire, at least 19 puppets, including officers, were killed and 24 wounded. Amongst the severely wounded was the ringleader of the prison, Brigadier General Abdul Karim al-Khazraji. Later on, he was forced to resign, and Major General Ghanim al-Quraishi was appointed to his post.
During the fighting, the Mujahideen managed to capture a part of the prison staff, all of them were subsequently executed. In addition, the Al-Qaeda fighters seized all the documents stored in the building, including private and confidential information about the captives.
"All documents, files, pictures and all identifications of those prisoners were burned. I think the security forces will find it hard to identify those who escaped", complained one of the prison officials.
A few hours after the attack, army troops backed by helicopter gunships and armored vehicles were brought in. A curfew was imposed throughout the Salahuddin province (see the map), including the major cities of Tikrit and Samarra (see the map). The place of the operation was flooded by army units.
However, despite all that, most of the Mujahideen prisoners managed to escape and get to a safe place, and the units of Al-Qaeda retreated from the operation site with minimum losses.
The ruling regime was forced to admit that this operation, carried out by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, was a complete surprise to them. The attack was masterfully planned, and it was executed with great professional skills.
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
Our button
print version
