Al Qaeda prisoner kills officials in mutiny at Baghdad ministry, and 10 mutineers dead

Sunday, 08 May 2011

Huthaifa Al Batawi, an Al Qaeda operative, suspected of being the mastermind behind a bloody attack on a Church in Baghdad, initiated the prison's mutiny. (File Photo)

By DINA AL SHIBEEB
AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIes

An insurgent, an Al Qaeda operative known as the “Magistrate of Baghdad,” allegedly killed 4 policemen, and an Iraqi general, after leading a prison mutiny at the Interior Ministry in Baghdad on Sunday. At least 10 mutineers died when the police fired at them.

The shooting occurred in a prison run by the counter-terrorism unit of the interior ministry in Baghdad, a senior counter-terrorism official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Among the dead was Brig. Gen. Moayed al-Saleh, the head of counter-terrorism for Baghdad’s central Karrada district, a lieutenant colonel, and a first lieutenant, the official said.

An Interior Ministry official, who did not want to be named, subsequently confirmed the details to Reuters.

According to accounts pieced together by Reuters, the prisoner had been incarcerated for leading a siege on a Baghdad church in October 2010. During interrogation early Sunday, the suspect, Huthaifa Al Batawi, grabbed a policeman’s gun and opened fire, killing the officials. Prison staff shot him dead.

Al Batawi had been allegedly involved in a siege on Baghdad’s Syria Catholic cathedral, Our Lady of Salvation. Some 58 died in that siege, and 100 Iraqis were taken hostage.

According to Al Arabiya, Al Batawi—nicknamed “Wali of Baghdad” or “Baghdad’s magistrate”—was the mastermind behind the church attack, for which an Al Qaeda-linked Sunni insurgent group, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility.

Sunday’s incident came as security was tightened in Iraq where authorities fear reprisals from the local branch of Al Qaeda after the death of Osama Bin Laden on May 2 in a US Special Forces operation in Pakistan.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, during a visit to Tunisia on Saturday, said it was “likely” that Al Qaeda would plan attacks in Iraq to avenge Bin Laden’s death reported Agence-France Presse.

*Source : http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/05/08/148266.html