Hundreds escape after Iraq prison attacks

[Siege]

In the bible a frequently used metaphor is the sword "Devours" as though it were a ravenous monster.  It's interesting how Al-Qaeda uses the metaphor "Reap" for assault rifles, as though it were a tool for harvest and the heads of tyrants were made of delicious corn.

Sorry, this is all I got.

[Siege]

I shall never google Tyrant ever again.

[Duque de Bragança]

Hundreds escape after Iraq prison attacks

So are we absolutely sure Jacques Mesrine is dead? 

Trying to out-French Valmy or what?

As for Mesrine he's indeed alive in songs or movies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF06PciLWSQ
Instinct de moustache euh mort



A more graphic pic, not necessarily SFW
http://www.live2times.com/imgupload/event/10664/03071828/normal/mort-de-jacques-mesrine-ennemi-public-numero-1-jacques-mesrine1979_-_jacques_mesrine_est_abattu_porte_de_clignancourt_par_la_brigade_anti-gang.jpg

[Savonarola]

Sorry, this is all I got.

That's okay, sometimes all you get is NOM NOM NOM.

[Savonarola]

Trying to out-French Valmy or what?

[Savonarola]

The Great Escape:

Guard killed in Baghdad prison break

Twenty-two Iraqi suspects facing terrorism charges escaped Friday from a prison in northern Baghdad after killing a security guard, but most were rearrested later in the day, officials said.

The jailbreak from al-Adela prison triggered a police manhunt backed by helicopters that ended with one of the escaped prisoners dead and 13 rearrested. Eight remain at large.

The prisoners had lured a guard into their cell while his comrades were sleeping, claiming an inmate there was critically ill. They then stabbed him to death, two senior security officials said.

Several guards were later detained and questioned over suspicions they had aided the escape, a prison official said.

Jailbreaks are frequent in Iraq and, as with other security breaches, they have cast doubts on the ability of the authorities to secure the country, mired in sectarian tensions.

Also Friday, a car bomb went off near a security checkpoint in the western city of Ramadi, killing five policemen and wounding seven others, said police officials.

In a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad, gunmen shot and killed two government employees in their car. And police said a bomb exploded near an outdoor market in Madain area, just south of Baghdad, killing one person and wounding four.

In the afternoon, a car bomb exploded inside a fish market in Baghdad's southeastern Shiite-majority suburb of Nahrwan, killing four and wounding 14, police said.

Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualty figures for all the attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

In July hundreds of prisoners broke out of the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison. The Islamic State of Iraq, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, claimed responsibility for the mass escape, which involved two coordinated assaults with suicide bombers and mortars.

Can I be:  Iraqi Cooler King?   

[The Brain]

Rearrested? Double jeopardy ftw.

[Savonarola]

Scores dead as violence sweeps Iraq

At least 92 people have been killed and over 161 wounded in a string of deadly attacks across Iraq Monday, security sources told Al Jazeera.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, but rebel groups frequently target civilians and members of the Iraqi security forces to undermine confidence in the country's Shia-led government and agitate sectarian tensions.

The attacks started in the town of Beiji, about 110 miles north of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into the main gate of the town police station. Three other bombers then ran into the station and blew themselves up, killing eight officers and wounding five others, an official said.

"We believe the attack was aimed at freeing detainees who are being held in the building next door," said Major Salih al-Qaisi, a police officer at the scene, adding that all of the bombers were killed before reaching the building where the detainees are held.

Reuters news agency, citing police and and medical sources, reported later on Monday that two parked cars laden with explosives and a roadside bomb went off near a funeral tent and killed at least 24 Shia Muslim pilgrims in Yusfiya, about 12 miles south of Baghdad.

A spate of car bombs and roadside bombs in mainly Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad also killed at least 27 people and wounded scores, police and medical sources said.

Another attack occurred in Baghdad's southeastern neighborhood of Bayaa when a car bomb went off in a parking lot, killing six civilians and wounding 12 others.

And three suicide bombers seized the local council building in Tikrit, 95 miles north of the capital, after setting off two car bombs outside, security sources said. At least three people were killed.

Wave of violence

Monday's bombings are part of a wave of violence that has swept over Iraq since a security crackdown on a protest camp in a northern Sunni town in April.

In addition to Monday's bombings, militants in Mosul — 240 miles north of Baghdad — intercepted a bus carrying Shia pilgrims to the shrine city of Karbala from the northern Shia town of Tal Afar, and shot 12 of them dead, police said.

Security services have been on high alert since last week because they expect more attacks on Shias before Iraq's majority community marks the ritual of Arbaeen, commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Mohammad. Shias are considered apostates by Sunni militants, whose resurgence is blamed by the government partly on the impact of the increasingly sectarian war in neighboring Syria.

At least 262 people have died in attacks across the country this month, according to The Associated Press, making 2013 the most violent year in Iraq since the country was pushed to the brink of civil war in 2006 to 2007.

[Savonarola]

Lights out! Jihadist Television!  Turn that shit up!

Iraqi gunmen kill two journalists in TV station takeover
December 23, 2013 10:00AM ET
Security forces have launched an assault to retake station and free 15 employees

Four suicide bombers attacked a local television station headquarters north of Baghdad on Monday, killing two journalists, a police source told Al Jazeera.

Security forces launched an assault to clear the Salaheddin television building, killing four armed attackers following an exchange of fire and freeing 15 employees of the television channel who had been trapped inside, Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reported from Erbil.

A female presenter and a program director for the station were the two victims, police said.

It was not immediately clear whether any of the gunmen were remaining inside the building.

With the latest violence, nine Iraqi journalists have been killed in attacks in less than three months.

Iraq has come in for repeated criticism over a lack of media freedom and the number of unsolved killings of journalists.

[Savonarola]

An Al-Qaeda Christmas gift to you:

Christians targeted by Baghdad bombs

A car bomb near a church in Baghdad has killed at least 15 people and wounded 28 others, as Iraqi Christians celebrated Christmas, officials say.

The device went off outside a Catholic church when worshippers were leaving a Christmas Day service.

Another bomb at a nearby market in a mainly Christian area killed six more people and left 14 people hurt.

Iraq's ancient Christian community has more than halved in recent years, from an estimated population of 900,000.

Both blasts happened in the Dora area of Baghdad. The bomb outside St John's Catholic church exploded in a parked car, shortly after an explosion at an outdoor market in the mainly Christian al-Athorien district.

No-one has yet admitted carrying out the attacks, which came as Christmas Day services were held across Iraq.

During a service at St Joseph Chaldean church in the Karrada area of the capital, Father Saad Seroub called for peace and security for all Iraqis.

'Feeding terrorism'
Churches have been targeted across the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

An attack by gunmen in 2010 on the Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad left more than 50 people dead.

A surge in sectarian violence this year has claimed the lives of more than 7,000 civilians in Iraq, the highest annual number of fatalities since 2008.

Most of the attacks have targeted Shia civilians and the smaller Sunni population.

The bloodshed escalated in April, after the army raided a Sunni anti-government protest camp.

But the conflict in Syria has prompted a spike in attacks, many involving al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told the BBC on Sunday that the Syrian crisis was "feeding terrorism in the region".

[jimmy olsen]

Wonder how this will effect the war in Syria? 

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/03/22166297-al-qaeda-linked-forces-capture-town-of-fallujah-in-iraq?lite

Al Qaeda-linked forces capture town of Fallujah in Iraq
By Andrea Mitchell and Courtney Kube, NBC News

U.S. intelligence officials said Friday the situation in western Iraq was "extremely dire" after radical Sunni forces linked with al Qaeda raised their flag in the town of Fallujah - site of two of the bloodiest battles during the Iraq war - and gained control of the city.

Islamist insurgents have also battled tribesmen for control of the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

The fighters brandished their weapons and set police vehicles ablaze on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. A provincial spokesman said the militants had taken over police stations and military posts in Fallujah and Ramadi after security forces left.

An interior ministry official told Agence France-Presse that ISIL, the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, remained in control of parts of the two cities on Thursday.

The move is another sign that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has not been able to maintain control of the country since the United States withdrew its troops in 2011, failing to reach an agreement with the Maliki government to leave behind a residual force.

There are currently no U.S. troops in Fallujah or Ramadi, according to the Pentagon.

The State Department said the violence that reached another peak Friday was a spillover from the civil war in neighboring Syria -- and that the border between Syria and Iraq has now become meaningless.

The United States rejected suggestions that American troops could help stabilize the situation.

"If we couldn't control that border with 150,000 troops in that country during the war, what would a few hundred accomplish?" one U.S. official said.

The U.S., however, did last month authorize the sale to the Maliki government of Hellfire missiles and Scan Eagle surveillance drones.

The United States continues to have a large diplomatic presence in the country, along with about 100 Marines and 100 high-level institutional trainers -- nearly all in Baghdad. There is also a smaller U.S. Consulate in Erbil.

During the two battles of Fallujah in 2004, the U.S. lost 51 and 95 troops, respectively. More than 1,000 U.S. troops were injured in total.

[DontSayBanana]

Ladies and gentlemen, what happens when you have two violent failed states with a joint border.

[Siege]

Ladies and gentlemen, what happens when you have two violent failed states with a joint border.

3rd Gulf War?

[Siege]

[Viking]

Ladies and gentlemen, what happens when you have two violent failed states with a joint border.

3rd Gulf War?

1st Eurphrates Riverine War

Apparently Iran is volunteering to retake fallujah for the Iraqi government.