Gunmen attack two Iraq prisons: interior ministry

BAGHDAD: Security forces have foiled an attack by armed men on two prisons near Baghdad, the Iraqi interior ministry said.

The attacks targeted prisons in Taji, north of Baghdad, and Abu Ghraib to the west of the capital.

"The security forces in the Baghdad Operations Command, with the assistance of military aircraft, managed to foil an armed attack launched by unknown gunmen against the ... two prisons of Taji and Abu Ghraib," the interior ministry said in a statement late on Sunday night.

"The security forces forced the attackers to flee, and these forces are still pursuing the terrorist forces and exerting full control over the two regions," it said.

But commenters on microblogging site Twitter, the attackers claimed that thousands of prisoners had escaped. (AFP)