There are conflicting reports about the number of fleeing inmates and those recaptured following the Friday’s jail break at Kadhimiya Prison in northwest Baghdad , but accounts offered by Iraqi officials and police sources indicate that at least one escapee has been killed and most of them have been recaptured.  

While an unnamed Iraqi police colonel has put the number of the recaptured escapees at 26, an AFP report cites the colonel as saying that only 14 of the fleeing inmates were nabbed and another one killed.

Meanwhile , hospital sources have confirmed that one inmate and two prison guards were killed during the incident.

Additionally, an Interior Ministry statement on the incident initially announced that all but three escapees were captured after clashes with security forces following the jail break, but a subsequent statement by a ministry spokesman put the number of those still on the loose at six.

Moreover, Iraqi lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, who is a member of a parliamentary committee oversees the conduct of the security services, said the jailbreak happened when inmates first lured a prison guard to their jail cell by pretending that one of them was critically ill.

The jailed terror suspects then attacked the guard with sharp objects, seizing his firearm and attempting to escape, Zamili added.

"This area is very fortified because many security institutions are based there, which means that the escaped suspects got help from inside to guide them smoothly out," he said.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s Interior Ministry has stated that al-Qaeda-linked militants and terror groups have launched an open war in Iraq, aiming to push the Middle Eastern country into chaos.

“The country is currently facing an open war from bloodthirsty sectarian forces that aim to plunge the country into chaos,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement issued on July 30.

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