At least 500 prisoners, including senior al-Qaeda members, have reportedly escaped from two Iraqi prisons after gunmen stormed two jails near Baghdad.
Mortar fire and suicide bombs were used by the unknown gunmen to gain access to the Abu Ghraib and Taji jails of Iraq, the BBC reports.
According to the report, most of the inmates that escaped were senior members of al-Qaeda who had been sentenced to death.
Interior Minister Wissam al-Firaiji said that the attackers were well-armed, the report added.
A security official believes that it's a terrorist attack carried out by al-Qaeda to free convicted terrorists of the group.