Fifty inmates and 12 policemen were killed when a riot erupted and dozens escaped from an Iraqi prison holding hundreds of people jailed for acts of terrorism, security and police officials said on Saturday.
The deaths occurred on site at the Al-Khalis prison, about 80 km northeast of Baghdad, and during a manhunt for the fugitive convicts overnight, said the officials.
The officials said Al-Khalis held about 300 people convicted of terrorism charges. In Iraq, terrorism cases are mainly linked to Islamist militants, including Islamic State, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and which the Iraqi military is fighting to dislodge
