Baghdad - at least 18 people were killed in fighting between security officers and prisoners in a prison in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior complex in Baghdad on Sunday, a security officer, said.
The dead included an al Qaeda leader known as the "Emir of Baghdad" which planned an attack on a Catholic Church last October in which more than 50 people died, said Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for the security of Baghdad.
The skirmish to a central unit to fight against terrorism in the Karrada district of Baghdad began when a prisoner grabbed a gun from a guard, killed several guards and officers of the Ministry of the Interior and has given a weapon to other inmatessaid Moussawi.
"The guards and security forces responded to the prison of the Department of the fight against terrorism and killed 11 terrorist prisoners... including Huthaifa al-Batawi, the Emir of Baghdad, which was responsible for the planning of the Church attack," said Moussawi.
Moussawi said seven security officers were killed in the skirmish and another was wounded.
Batawi was arrested with 11 other late November for the assault on October 31 on the Church of our Lady of salvation during the Sunday mass. Dozens of hostages and police died when Iraqi forces attempted to free the Catholic hostage more than 100.
The attack was the bloodiest against the Christian minority in the Iraq since the invasion led by the United States in 2003.
Moussawi, said the situation in the prison was under control and some prisoners had escaped.
Since on Iraqi security forces high alert for revenge attacks by al-Qaida U.S. commandos killed the leader of the Group of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan Monday.
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