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At least 15 killed in Iraq jailbreak

By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 11:05 AM EDT, Fri September 28, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Security forces, prisoners among the casualties
  • The assailants wore police uniforms and detonated car bombs, sources say
  • The blasts triggered clashes with security forces and led to the escape of 80 prisoners
  • The jail is in the northern city of Tikrit, which remains under a curfew

(CNN) -- At least 15 people died and dozens more were injured in a dramatic jailbreak in northern Iraq, an Interior Ministry official said Friday.

Armed men detonated two car bombs Thursday at the gates of a jail in Tikrit. The explosions triggered clashes with security forces and led to the escape of 80 prisoners.

Ten security forces and five prisoners died. Twenty security forces and 20 prisoners were wounded.

The assailants wore police uniforms and used cars similar to those driven by police, a police source told the National Iraqi News Agency.

The attackers took over the Tasfirat jail after setting off the car bombs and clashing with authorities, the official said. Afterward, security forces surrounded the jail and engaged in a battle to regain control from the armed men inside, he said.

The official told CNN that 80 prisoners managed to escape and Tikrit remains under a curfew.

Tasfirat is a temporary facility for those awaiting trial and convicts who are waiting to be transferred to prisons to serve out their terms.

CNN's Yousuf Basil contributed to this report.

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