BAGHDAD - A group of Al-Qaida prisoners was caught trying to
tunnel out of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, an official said on Sunday, after the
militants said they would step up their fight against the
government.
Iraq's Shi'ite-led government is concerned that Sunni Muslim
militants will get a boost from the insurgency in neighboring Syria, where
mainly Sunni rebels are battling Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Jail breaks
are common in Iraq and security at prisons was beefed up this week after five
militants stormed a police counter-terrorism headquarters on Tuesday in an
attempt to free Al-Qaida prisoners. All five were killed in a long gun
battle.
A spokesman for the justice ministry, Haider al-Saadi, said in a
statement that 11 "dangerous prisoners" at Abu Ghraib dug down three meters and
had tunneled along 20 meters using a frying pan and part of a ceiling fan
before they were discovered.