Three prisoners escaped from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad on Thursday, sneaking through two holes in the perimeter fence before dawn, the U.S. military said.
“At approximately 5:50 a.m., during a normal headcount, U.S. forces discovered that three detainees were missing,” the army said in a statement.
“The quick-reaction force and all available guards responded and conducted a comprehensive search of the interior and exterior perimeter of Abu Ghraib,” it said, but the escapers could not be found.
Iraqi security forces and the police have been alerted.
The missing prisoners were not identified.
Around 3,400 prisoners are held at Abu Ghraib, a jail that was notorious among Iraqis under Saddam Hussein and was made notorious again after the scandal last year in which U.S. soldiers were found to have abused Iraqi detainees.
U.S. Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, spokesman for detainee operations in Iraq, would not say how many U.S. soldiers were charged with guarding the prison, but said he believed the security was adequate despite the escape.
“We have sufficient security,” he said. “We’re conducting an investigation to find out how this happened.” he said.
The breakout is the second from a U.S. detention facility in Iraq this year, following the escape of 11 detainees from Camp Bucca in southern Iraq in April.
They made their getaway by digging a 600-foot tunnel under the perimeter fence. All 11 were recaptured within 24 hours.
