You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Iraq
Guards, inmates killed in Baghdad jail battle
2005-12-29
BAGHDAD - At least nine prisoners and guards were killed in a gun battle at a Baghdad high-security jail on Wednesday after detained guerrilla suspects, some of them foreign, grabbed weapons and tried to flee, officials said.
"C'mon boys, we gotta make a break!"
One Iraqi inmate snatched a Kalashnikov rifle from a guard as a handful of high-risk prisoners were taken out at dawn to clean the yard, a guard from the site told Reuters. After raiding the prison armoury, the group freed more comrades but US and Iraqi troops based around the jail quelled the revolt.
And this was at a high security facility?
Five staff and four inmates were killed and five prisoners and a US soldier were wounded, the US military said, denying assertions by police, including an Interior Ministry general, that the death toll was at least 20 among the detainees, who include some of the most violent of Iraq’s insurgents.
"20? No way! It was more like 50!"
Officials put the number of prisoners at the Kadhimiya maximum security jail at over 200. It lies inside the sprawling Adala military base, known to Americans as Camp Justice and once used by Saddam Hussein’s secret police.

The US military said: “Sixteen prisoners attempted to escape the facility after first storming the armoury.” The Justice Ministry prison guard told Reuters: “At 6:30 a.m., five prisoners were taken out to clean the yards. When the officer was trying to shackle their legs to stop them from escaping, one of them pushed the officer aside and another attacked the guard standing nearby and took his gun. Then he shot the officer dead and wounded the guard.”

“The five prisoners rushed towards the armoury and shot the sleeping guard dead before they grabbed weapons, ammunition and body armour and also some keys.”
They have sleeping guards at high-security facilities?
Among seven other prisoners the now armed inmates freed and armed were a Russian, a Tunisian and a Saudi, he said.

”The group rushed the gate, firing on soldiers there and killing two of them,” he added. “They also killed a translator called Firas, a maintenance worker and another guard.”
Posted by:Steve White

#4  Heh,
I was pretty good at sneaking past the sleeping guards in the computer game Half Life.
NG, your comment about living up to the stereotype of the lazy..., I thought that had changed. To have someone of this ilk be in charge and put so many in danger is crazy.
I say who cares about the "clean yard", keep them in a very small cell.
I'm sure many RB'ers would have a better definition of high security.
On a more serious note, it's one thing to die in battle, quite another to lose your life out of someone else's stupidity. My heart goes out to the guys that lost their lives or were hurt because of this sleeping guard.
Posted by: Jan   2005-12-29 13:58  

#3  They have sleeping guards at high-security facilities?

You better beleive they do! I can't tell you how many times I was disappointed by Jundis (IA Pvt.'s, and by extension, any Iraqui) living down up to the stereotype of the lazy, incompetent and stunningly ignorant Third World slob.
Posted by: N guard   2005-12-29 10:40  

#2  New meaning for the term "dirt nap"
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2005-12-29 09:45  

#1  They have sleeping guards at high-security facilities?

Not anymore they don't. He's paid for his nap with his life.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2005-12-29 07:58  

00:00