Qaeda chief known as “Imad the killer” escaped in a pre-dawn breakout from an Iraqi police station on Friday, triggering a wild shootout that left 14 militants and Iraqi policemen dead. Imad Ahmed Farhan, who police say has admitted to murdering at least 100 people, is on the run with two other “emirs” or local leaders of Al-Qaeda who broke out of their cells in a police station in the western city of Ramadi. “During an exchange of fire between prisoners trying to escape and police officers in the station, seven policemen and seven prisoners were killed,” provincial police chief Tareq Al-Dulaimi said. The three prisoners managed to flee but one was recaptured, Dulaimi said. The US military said it had the same numbers for killed and wounded but said only three escaped. According to Yousif, the incident started when a prisoner held in a cell with 11 others asked a guard to allow him to go to the bathroom. When the guard opened the cell door, the prisoners pulled him in, grabbed his assault rifle and killed him, then attacked other police. Some of the detainees managed to escape in the ensuing riot. The police chief said the prisoners were all suspected insurgents of the group Al-Qaeda in Iraq. A curfew was imposed in the city, 115 km west of Baghdad as police searched for the escapees. No other details were immediately available. Iraq's government took over security for Anbar province from the US military in September. Iraq now controls security in 13 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Anbar is the largest Iraqi province, stretching from the western gates of Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It was once the center stage in the Sunni insurgency, which broke out soon after the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime. In late 2006, however, Sunni tribes turned against Al-Qaeda in Iraq because of its brutal tactics, including mass killings of Shiite civilians and its attempt to impose strict Islamic rule. The tribes joined with US forces to push Al-Qaeda out of the province, and now Anbar is considered one of the quieter parts of the country.
