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Al Qaeda Asserts Responsibility for Iraqi Prison Breaks Brazen Attacks at Prisons Raise Worries of Al Qaeda’s Strength in Iraq
(about 4 hours later)
Al Qaeda’s Iraq affiliate asserted responsibility on Tuesday for brazen assaults on two prisons on the outskirts of Baghdad two days earlier that freed hundreds of inmates, including many of its own members, in one of the most serious breaches of security since the final American military withdrawal from the country more than two years ago. WASHINGTON — The brazen assaults on two prisons in Iraq this week were significant not only for the hundreds of prisoners who were freed but also for what they indicate about the growing capabilities of Al Qaeda’s Iraq affiliate, American officials and experts outside government said on Tuesday.
In a statement posted on jihadist Web sites titled “Conquering the Tyrants,” the Al Qaeda branch in Iraq, a largely homegrown organization of Sunni militant extremists, said the assaults on the two high-security prisons, Taji and Abu Ghraib, had been planned for months. The attacks on the prisons at Abu Ghraib and Taji were carefully synchronized operations in which members of the Qaeda affiliate used mortars to pin down Iraqi forces, employed suicide bombers to punch holes in their defenses and then sent an assault force to free the prison’s inmates, Western experts said.
The audacity of the assaults underscored the deterioration of Iraq’s stability, punctuated recently by an almost daily litany of car bombings and other violence tied to a resurrection of sectarian tensions in the country, largely between the majority Shiites and minority Sunnis. The monthlong Ramadan holiday celebrated by all Muslims appears to have done little to diminish the mayhem. “We are concerned about the increased tempo and sophistication of Al Qaeda operations in Iraq,” said a senior State Department official , who requested anonymity because he did not want to be seen as commenting on Iraq’s internal affairs.
The Qaeda claim came as an emergency committee formed by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to investigate the prison breaks said in a statement that its initial findings suggested that “some of the guards were involved with the terrorist attackers.” James F. Jeffrey, who was the United States ambassador in Baghdad when the last American troops left in December 2011, said that Iraqi forces had performed poorly and that it was clear that their skills had deteriorated now that the American troops training them were gone.
There were conflicting accounts by Al Qaeda and Iraqi security officials on the number of escapees and casualties. But there appeared to be little dispute that hundreds of Qaeda militants, some of whom had been captured by the Americans during the war, were now on the loose, an outcome that sent new waves of fear through Baghdad and beyond. “This is the first example I have seen that the absence of American troops that would have provided tactical training has had an impact on the battlefield,” said Mr. Jeffrey, who is now a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The audacity of the assaults underscored the worsening conditions in Iraq, where stability has been undermined by car bombings and other violence tied to a resurgence of sectarian tensions in the country, largely between the majority Shiites and minority Sunnis.
 The Al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq is a largely homegrown organization of Sunni militant extremists that include foreign fighters and has had some foreign leaders. 
“This attack is unlike any other attack when they target a coffee shop or a public market,” said Hamid Fadhil, a political science professor at Baghdad University. “They are targeting the most secured place with big numbers of security forces.”“This attack is unlike any other attack when they target a coffee shop or a public market,” said Hamid Fadhil, a political science professor at Baghdad University. “They are targeting the most secured place with big numbers of security forces.”
Al Qaeda said 500 prisoners had escaped, all of them mujahedeen, or holy warriors. Iraqi officials said 800 prisoners had fled from Abu Ghraib alone but 400 had been recaptured or killed, implying that at least 400 were at large. Mr. Maliki’s committee said no prisoners had escaped from Taji and an unspecified number had been killed there. Other Iraqis said the prison break had intensified their fears of being killed or injured by just venturing outside at the wrong time. “If Al Qaeda can attack a prison, it means they can do whatever they want whenever they want,” said a lawyer, Meluk Abdil Wahab, 45.
The Qaeda account also asserted that its fighters had killed at least 120 Iraqi security guards in the assaults, while Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said 20 had been killed. Thousands of inmates were in Taji and Abu Ghraib, the prison made infamous by the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal during the eight-year American occupation, and there were conflicting accounts on the number of escapees and casualties.
According to the Qaeda account, the planners of the assaults, which began Sunday evening, coordinated the detonation of 12 car bombs and a barrage of Grad missiles and mortar rounds to kill sentries outside the prisons as groups of heavily armed assailants breached the entrances, all having taken an oath not to emerge alive until the prisoners were freed. But there appeared to be little dispute that hundreds of Qaeda members, some of whom had been captured by Americans forces before they withdrew, were now on the loose, an outcome that sent fear through Baghdad and beyond.
Thousands of inmates were housed in Taji and Abu Ghraib — the prison made famous by the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal during the eight-year American occupation. Al Qaeda said 500 inmates had escaped from the two prisons, all of them mujahedeen, or holy warriors. Iraqi officials said 800 prisoners had fled from Abu Ghraib, of which 400 had been recaptured or killed.
A growing number of Iraq’s Sunnis have been alienated by the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Maliki and what they view as his sectarian agenda to disenfranchise them and strengthen ties with Shiite-led Iran. Their resentments have fed the growing strength of Al Qaeda in Iraq and its Sunni jihadist affiliates, a development that has increasingly worried American officials. They said that no prisoners had escaped from Taji, but that an unspecified number had been killed there.
Al Qaeda’s Iraqi branch has also been sending fighters to join the insurgency in neighboring Syria, where rebels drawn mostly from that country’s Sunni majority have been fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is a Shiite offshoot that gets heavy support from Iran and from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite organization. There have been other signs the Al Qaeda’s affiliate is becoming a growing threat. About 80 car bombs and suicide bombings were carried out in May, a type of attack generally associated with it. That was the highest number of such attacks since March 2008.
“Now Iraq has begun to feel the danger of the Syrian conflict reflected into Iraqi daily life,” Professor Fadhil said. But Mr. Jeffrey said that the prison breakout was especially worrisome because it would strengthen extremist fighters in the region and encourage some Iraqis in Sunni areas to take a more militant stance, since the episode would be seen as sign that the Al Qaeda affiliate is getting stronger while the Iraqi government forces are ineffective.
Iraqis interviewed in Baghdad said the prison break had intensified their fears of being killed or injured just by venturing outside at the wrong time. Meluk Abdil Wahab, a 45-year-old lawyer, said she had lost hope for any possible improvement. “It will provide seasoned leadership and a morale boost to Al Qaeda and its allies in both Iraq and Syria,” Mr. Jeffrey said. “And it is likely to have an electrifying impact on the Sunni population in Iraq, which has been sitting on the fence.”
“The Americans failed and the Iraqis are doing nothing except taking our oil and giving us car bombs in return,” she said. “If Al Qaeda can attack a prison it means they can do whatever they want whenver they want.” The escape of Qaeda-linked prisoners is also likely to increase the threat against the leaders of Sunni tribes that aligned themselves with American troops during the troop “surge” in 2007 and 2008 and fought the extremist group.

Rick Gladstone reported from New York, and Duraid Adnan from Baghdad.

Kirk Sowell, the editor of the newsletter Inside Iraqi Politics, said the episode has also punctured Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s carefully devised image as the man who brought order to Iraq — all the more so since Mr. Maliki has controlled the appointment of senior military officials and maintained a tight hold on the defense and interior ministries.
“The glow that Maliki had of being the strong leader who rebuilt Iraq, that’s gone,” Mr. Sowell said.
In another development that has chipped away at Mr. Maliki’s reputation, Mr. Sowell noted, the commander of Iraq’s 17th division recently resigned with a blast at Iraq’s political leadership.
In its statement, the Al Qaeda affiliate said that the prison breakout was called “Crushing the Tyrants” and that it had taken place precisely one year after its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced a campaign to free prisoners from jails around the country, according to SITE, a research organization that monitors Jihadist web sites.
There have been other prison breakouts, including a September 2012 attack in Tikirit that freed more than 100 prisoners. The Iraqi government later said it had recaptured more than 40 of them.
But the latest breakout was on a much greater scale. 
According to the Qaeda-affiliated account, the planners of the assaults, which began Sunday evening, coordinated the detonation of 12 car bombs and a barrage of mortar rounds and rockets to kill sentries outside the prisons as groups of heavily armed assailants who had taken an oath not to emerge alive until the prisoners were freed, breached the entrances.
An emergency committee formed by Mr. Maliki to investigate the attacks said that its initial findings suggested that “some of the guards were involved with the terrorist attackers.”

Michael R. Gordon reported from Washington, and Duraid Adnan from Baghdad. Rick Gladstone contributed reporting from New York.