In brief: Iraq prison break leaves dozens dead

BAGHDAD – Forty inmates in a prison in northeastern Iraq, including some convicted of terrorism charges, escaped amid a riot that killed at least six police officers and 30 prisoners, authorities said Saturday.

There were conflicting casualty reports on the attack at the Khalis prison in Diyala province. Two provincial police officials and a medical official put the toll much higher, saying 51 inmates and 12 policemen were killed, while more than 200 inmates escaped. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

Brig. Gen. Saad Maan Ibrahim, the Interior Ministry spokesman, put the death toll at 36 – six police officers and 30 prisoners – and said 40 inmates escaped.

Ibrahim told the Associated Press that a fight broke out among the inmates of the prison and when guards went to investigate, they were overpowered and had their weapons taken. He said security forces had cordoned off the area and were hunting for the escaped inmates.

In a statement carried on militant websites, the local chapter of the Islamic State group claimed a completely different account of the incident, describing it as a coordinated operation involving the use of multiple explosives outside the prison. The statement claimed that 30 Islamic State members were among those who escaped.

Five police killed in Macedonia clash

KUMANOVO, Macedonia – An armed group attacked special forces police Saturday in a town in northern Macedonia in a clash that killed five police officers and injured more than 30, officials said, amid a political crisis that has raised concern about the stability of the Balkan nation.

Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska told reporters late Saturday that the police casualties occurred during a sweep operation in Diva Naselba, a neighborhood in western Kumanovo. Police had come under attack from automatic guns and bombs.

Jankulovska said the “terrorist group,” which had entered Macedonia from an unspecified neighboring country, planned to “use the current political situation to perform attacks on state institutions.”

Jankulovska said more than 20 members of the armed group had surrendered, but added that the police operation is still ongoing.

Jankulovska said some of the attackers had been killed. Saturday’s clashes come as Macedonia is grappling with its deepest political crisis since its independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991. The government and the opposition have accused each other of planning to destabilize the country to take or preserve power, and some analysts fear leaders on both sides are ready to provoke ethnic clashes as leverage.

Airstrikes pound rebel stronghold

SANAA, Yemen – Dozens of Saudi-led coalition airstrikes hit the rebel stronghold Saada in northern Yemen, forcing hundreds of families to flee the area, security officials and Shiite Houthi rebels said Saturday.

The raids come after the Saudi-led coalition ordered civilians in rebel strongholds to flee by nightfall Friday and declared the entire region a “military target.” It warned it will strike anything in the region, even as the Saudis pressed for a cease-fire to begin this week.

Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed Ali Asiri, the coalition spokesman, said in a televised news conference that the strikes have targeted multiple buildings belonging to Houthi leadership, weapons stores and rebel encampments in the region bordering Saudi Arabia.

He accused the Houthis of preventing area residents from leaving the area under fire. Several tribal officials said the Houthis were making it difficult for residents to leave by removing petrol from the market and using it instead for their war effort.

Houthi spokesman Hamed al-Bokheiti denied the accusation and said the Houthis opened camps in Yemen’s capital Sanaa to receive refugees and those who remain in Saada refused to leave.