Al Qaeda jail break foiled

A group of al Qaeda prisoners was caught trying to tunnel out of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, an official said yesterday, after the militants said they would step up their fight against the government.

Jail breaks are common in Iraq and security was beefed after five militants stormed a police counter-terrorism HQ on Tuesday in an attempt to free al Qaeda prisoners. All five militants were killed.

A spokesman for the justice ministry said that 11 “dangerous prisoners” at Abu Ghraib dug down three meters and had tunnelled along 20 meters using a frying pan and part of a ceiling fan before they were discovered.