Clashes between security forces and armed men who attempted to storm two prisons in central Iraq killed 36 people and injured more than 64 injured, security officials said Monday, dpa reported.
Justice Ministry official Hamed al-Mosawi told the broadcaster Iraqiya that security forces took control of the prisons after hours of fierce clashes at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and al-Hout jail in al-Taji area north of the capital.
On Sunday night, gunmen launched coordinated attacks on the two prisons that are home to insurgent leaders with al-Qaeda and other militant groups.
The attacks included nine suicide bombings, three car bombs and 100 mortar shells fired at the prisons, officials said. At Abu Ghraib, clashes between the gunmen and police, backed by army helicopters, continued for more than an hour.
"Between 500 and 1,000 prisoners, mostly members of the al-Qaeda network, escaped from the Abu Ghraib prison," said Hakem al-Zamli, a lawmaker and member of the parliament's security and defence committee.
"It cannot be tolerated," he said. "Those proven negligent in the prison's administration must be held accountable."
The Abu Ghraib prison complex became notorious after pictures of US soldiers abusing Iraqi detainees became public in 2004.
While there are regular attempts to break into prisons in Iraq, Sunday's attack was the biggest in at least a year.
Elsewhere, 18 people were killed and 30 injured in separate attacks in the city of Mosul, 400 kilometres north of Baghdad, a security official said.
Iraq has seen a surge in attacks, raising fears of a return to the sectarian violence that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007.