Up to 10 Die in Prison Clash

A bloody melee erupted Wednesday morning at an Iraqi-run prison after an inmate grabbed an officer’s gun and began shooting, leaving up to 10 people dead and a dozen wounded.

Iraqi security officials said that four guards, five prisoners and an interpreter were killed at the facility in northern Baghdad, and that a U.S. soldier -- probably one of the American personnel often placed at Iraqi military and police posts -- was among the wounded. Officials also said that a group of prisoners attempted to make a jailbreak in the ensuing chaos but failed.

Iraq’s security forces, led by Shiite Muslims with ties to political militias, have come under criticism in recent weeks by U.S. officials and the country’s Sunni Arab minority. At several facilities, detainees -- many of them Sunnis -- have been found abused, malnourished or otherwise mistreated. It was unclear whether any such conditions contributed to the incident Wednesday at Al Adala prison.

The violence came amid continuing sectarian tensions over the results of the country’s Dec. 15 parliamentary election.

Though Sunnis had hoped to claim a large share of legislative seats, results indicate they won’t be able to prevent Shiites and Kurds from dominating a coalition government. Sunnis have been leading daily street protests and demanding a revote in some districts.

The Sunnis were dealt another blow Wednesday when the United Nations envoy for the election publicly gave the vote a strong seal of approval on live television, saying the proportion of complaints was low by international standards.

“The U.N. is of the view that the elections were transparent and credible,” said Craig Jenness, the top U.N. advisor for the vote, speaking alongside Iraqi election commissioners. “It was conducted in accord with international best practices. We see no justification for any rerun of any election.”

Iraqi election officials also suggested that incessant public attacks on the character and fairness of the commission overseeing the vote risked exposing the officials to violence.

“The commission is being put in an awkward situation because of the irresponsibility” of the protesting politicians, election commissioner Hussein Hindawi told reporters. “This is encouraging terrorists to take revenge on the commissioners by threatening to kill and kidnap them and their families.”

The top winners already have begun meeting to map out a strategy. Abdelaziz Hakim, the cleric who leads the Shiite coalition that received the most votes, has made his way north to Irbil to meet with Massoud Barzani, one of two Kurdish leaders.

Shiites and Kurds, who dominated the outgoing transitional government, have forged a strategic partnership grounded in their mutual opposition to Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led regime, which shut them out of power.

“The visit of Hakim to Irbil is a sign that [Shiites and Kurds] are trying to maintain their relations and form a unified government,” said Mohammed Amin, head of the Baghdad branch of Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Sporadic election protests continued in Sunni areas of the country. On Wednesday morning in Samarra, north of Baghdad, demonstrators chanted against Iran, accusing Iraq’s winning Shiite parties of being dupes for Tehran’s clerical regime.

The hours-long turmoil at Al Adala prison, in the Kadhimiya section of Baghdad, began during daily cleaning operations, an Interior Ministry official said. An inmate grabbed a guard’s gun and opened fire, said Nouri Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry. A gun battle ensued as guards returned fire on the armed prisoner and detainees trying to escape.

Ibrahim would not say how many prisoners were housed at the facility, but he said they included both convicted criminals and those under investigation.

The U.S. military gave a slightly different account of events. In a statement, it said the riot began when 16 prisoners attempted to escape by grabbing weapons from an armory.

In other violence Wednesday, a suicide bomber rammed a car into a convoy of Interior Ministry commandos in Samarra, killing two civilians and injuring four of the elite police.

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Times staff writers Saif Rasheed and Shamil Aziz and a special correspondent in Samarra contributed to this report.