BAGHDAD - Al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq claimed responsibility Tuesday for raids on two high-security prisons on the outskirts of Baghdad this week that killed dozens and freed hundreds of inmates, including some of the group’s followers.
The statement from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the al-Qaida affiliate in Iraq, was posted on an online jihadist forum. It said months of planning went into the highly coordinated assaults on the prisons in Abu Ghraib and Taji that began late Sunday.
The attacks, among the most stunning in Iraq since a surge in violence began in April, have drawn sharp criticism from opposition lawmakers and ordinary Iraqis over government efforts to keep the country safe.
The spike in bloodshed is intensifying fears of a returnto the widespread sectarian killing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
In its statement, al-Qaida in Iraq said the prison operation involved 12 car bombs, military-style barrages of rockets and mortar shells, suicide bombers and help from prisoners who had managed to obtain weapons on the inside.
Iraqi officials said at least 25 members of the country’s security forces were killed in the attacks, along with at least 21 prisoners and 10 militants.
Al-Qaida said its men killed more than 120 government forces and claimed that on its side, only the suicide bombers died in clashes that raged for hours.
Frank Finver, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said the U.S. is “deeply concerned” by the attacks and the overall levels of violence in Iraq.
He said the U.S. is in ongoing contact with the Iraqi government to help improve its ability to weaken or defeat al-Qaida inside Iraq, but he gave no specific details on counterterrorism cooperation.
Iraq’s central government has not provided a clear account of what happened or said how many prisoners escaped Sunday night.
The Interior Ministry has said several prisoners broke out from Abu Ghraib, the prison in Baghdad’s western suburbs that was the site of well-publicized prisoner abuse at the hands of the U.S. military after the 2003 invasion.
But several Iraqi officials, including members of parliament’s security and defense committee, have said more than 500 inmates escaped. Both prisons house thousands of inmates, including convicted al-Qaida militants, though it appears no one broke out of the Taji prison.
Al-Qaida said in its statement that the attack freed hundreds of detainees, including more than 500 mujahedeen, or holy warriors.
The authenticity of the statement could not be independently confirmed. It was posted on a website commonly used by jihadists, and its style was consistent with earlier al-Qaida statements.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki voiced disappointment over the handling of the Abu Ghraib attack in brief comments during a broader discussion broadcast on state television.
“I have imposed harsh punishments on some people in relation to Abu Ghraib,” he said, without elaborating.
In the statement, al-Qaida also claimed responsibility for other unspecified attacks over the past four months in response to a crackdown by security forces on a Sunni protest camp in the northerntown of Hawija on April 23.
The Hawija raid killed 44 civilians and one member of the security forces, according to estimates by the United Nations.
Violence in Iraq has spiked to the highest level in half a decade in the wake of the Hawija crackdown. More than 3,000 people have been killed since the start of April, including more than 500 since the start of July.
The bloodshed continued into Tuesday.
A bomb exploded at night outside a Sunni mosque in Kirkuk, killing seven and wounding 22, police Col. Taha Salaheddin said. A car bomb later wounded two near another mosque in the oil-rich city, 180 miles north of Baghdad, he added.
Another bomb exploded near a Sunni mosque in Baghdad’s southern Dora neighborhood, killing four and wounding 12, said police and hospitalofficials.
Insurgents earlier bombed a government building in the northern village of al-Rashad. They kidnapped two anti-al-Qaida Sunni militiamen who were guarding the building and later shot them dead, said al-Rashad’s mayor, Louis al-Fandi.
Police also found the bodies of four off-duty policemen on a road about 20 miles north of the city of Mosul. The policemen had been shot in the head, according to authorities.
In Mosul, gunmen in a speeding car shot dead two other off-duty policemen as they were walking in a street, police said.
Three sheep traders were killed in the northern city later in the day.
Information for this article was contributed by Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sinan Salaheddin and Sameer N. Yacoub of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 07/24/2013