A LOCAL al-Qaeda chief known as "Imad the killer" escaped in a pre-dawn breakout from an Iraqi police station on Friday, triggering a wild shootout that left 13 militants and Iraqi policemen dead. Imad Ahmed Farhan, who police say has admitted to murdering at least 100 people, is on the run with two other "emirs" or local leaders of al-Qaeda who broke out of their cells in a police station in the western city of Ramadi."During an exchange of fire between prisoners trying to escape and police officers in the station, six policemen and seven prisoners were killed," provincial police chief Tareq al-Dulaimi said.
The three prisoners managed to flee but one was recaptured, Dulaimi said, adding that another four policemen were wounded in the shootout that occurred at 2am (1000 AEDT Thursday) at Forsan police station in the centre of Ramadi.
Ramadi police have imposed a curfew in the city following the incident, an interior ministry source said.
The source said a prisoner wanting to go to the toilet was escorted from his cell by a policeman at 2am, kicking off what appeared to be a well-planned operation. "The policeman was overpowered by the inmate who seized his weapon and shot him," the source said.
| Was he overpowered or was he 'overpowered'? |
The prisoners battled police for two hours before officers managed to regain control of the station, a local police official said. The recaptured prisoner suffered minor injuries.
| Though he's about to fall down the stairs. Elebenteen flights of stairs. |
Today, the streets of Ramadi, a city of 540,000 people, were deserted and shops were shut as a heavy police presence fanned out in an urgent hunt for the al-Qaeda escapees, an AFP reporter said.