MOSUL – Thirty-five prisoners facing terrorism charges escaped through a sewerage pipe from a temporary jail in Iraq’s restive northern city of Mosul yesterday before 21 were recaptured, officials said.
Mosul, an al-Qaeda stronghold located 390km (240 miles) north of Baghdad in the province of Nineveh, has seen a number of big prison breaks. Last year 23 prisoners convicted on terrorism charges escaped from the city’s Ghazlani prison. In 2007, dozens of al-Qaeda-led militants stormed Badoush prison just outside Mosul and freed up to 140 prisoners. – (Reuters)