12 police killed in Iraq prison clashes: officials

TIKRIT: At least 12 policemen were killed in clashes at a prison in the Iraqi city of Tikrit that was seized by militants but has since been retaken by security forces, officials said on Friday.

Salaheddin provincial deputy governor Ahmed Abdul Jabbar told that 12 policemen were killed in fighting at the prison in Tikrit, 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Baghdad.

Abdul Jabbar said that the prison had been retaken from militants who seized it on Thursday night, but that 83 prisoners escaped.

A source in the Salaheddin police command said that 15 policemen and seven prisoners were killed in the violence, and put the number of escaped prisoners at around 100.

"We took control of the prison, and the gunmen handed over their weapons," the source said.

The violence in Tikrit comes after Al-Qaeda's front group the Islamic State of Iraq said in July that it was launching a "new military campaign aimed at recovering territory."

An earlier message posted on jihadist forums said the ISI would begin targeting judges and prosecutors, and try to help its prisoners break out of jails.