The breakout from
Karkh Prison, formerly called Camp Cropper, is an embarrassment for the US
military, which has handed over control of all of the detention facilities it
used to run to the Iraqi government. But at the request of the Iraqis, the US
has retained custody over some of the most dangerous prisoners, including those
with ties to terrorist groups or Saddam Hussein's former regime.
US troops found
two detainees attempting to escape from the compound on Wednesday evening, the
military said in a statement. When they conducted a sweep of the whole
facility, they discovered that four other detainees were missing.
“US Forces-Iraq,
Iraqi Security Forces and the MoJ (Ministry of Justice) are working to
apprehend these individuals,” said Maj. Gen. Jerry Cannon, head of American
detainee operations in Iraq. “This event is under investigation.” There was no
details on how the escape happened, who was to blame or who the people were
that escaped.
An Iraqi military spokesman, Maj. Gen.
Qassim Al-Moussawi, told the Associated Press that the Americans informed them
Thursday morning that four Iraqis being held by the US had broken out of the
facility, although it was not clear exactly when or how they escaped.
He said the men
were linked to Al-Qaeda and facing the death penalty.
The top American
commander in Iraq, Gen. Lloyd Austin, and Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki
discussed the prison break during a high-level meeting Thursday, said an
official with knowledge of the meeting.
The official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said
Austin apologized to Al-Maliki and said the people responsible for the escape
would be held accountable.
This is not the
first time that prisoners have broken out of American-run detention facilities
in Iraq; 11 Iraqis broke out of the US's Camp Bucca in April 2005 although many
were later recaptured. A month earlier US officials there discovered a 600-foot
tunnel leading out of Camp Bucca.
In 2006, five
detainees escaped from the Fort Suse Theater internment facility near
Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad; they were later apprehended by
Kurdish security officials.
An Iraqi security
official said troops cordoned off the area near the prison — including the
Jihad neighborhood and the airport, where the facility is located, as part of
the search for the fugitives. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to speak to the media.
Jihad residents
said there was an intense Iraqi military presence in the neighborhood, and
locals were banned from driving.
On July 15, the US
military handed over about 1,500 prisoners to Iraqi authorities during the
changing of the guard at Camp Cropper, but continued to hold on to some 200
detainees at the request of the Iraqi government. They are kept in a separate
part of the prison dubbed Compound 5, and guarded by American soldiers.
The prisoners who
remain in US custody are “former regime elements, Al-Qaeda operatives and very
dangerous detainees,” said Cannon during a previous interview. He said they would
eventually be handed over to the Iraqi government before American forces pull
out of the country entirely by the end of next year.
Thursday's escape
is the second since the US transferred custody of the detention facility to the
Iraqis.
Just a week after
the handover, four Al-Qaeda-linked detainees awaiting trial on terrorism
charges escaped from the Iraqi section of the prison.
The $48 million
complex has been used by US forces since April 2003 and can hold up to 4,000
prisoners. It's now divided into six detainee compounds, and is manned by 700
Iraqi corrections officers and about 100 support staff.
The prison once
held Saddam Hussein and other senior members of his regime.
Also on Thursday,
gunmen broke into the house of a prominent Sunni cleric and decapitated him
before setting his body on fire, police officials said.
The cleric, Sheik
Abdul-Jabar Saleh Al-Jabouri, was a preacher in a village near the city of
Muqdadiyah, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad, an area that used
to be an insurgent stronghold.
A spokesman for
the Diyala police, Maj. Ghalib Al-Karkhi, said the cleric ran a medical clinic
in the area before becoming a preacher and treated wounded members of the local
anti-Al-Qaeda militia.
These militias as
well as people who assist them have often been targeted by insurgents trying to
seek revenge or to intimidate others from working with the organization.
There was no
immediate claim of responsibility but Al-Qaeda-linked groups have often
beheaded their victims.
