Iraqi gunmen free prisoners in audacious raid

BAGHDAD, July 16 (Reuters) Gunmen freed a dozen wounded prisoners and shot dead four policemen in an audacious raid on a major hospital north of Baghdad today, police said.

Police said three mortar rounds crashed into the grounds of Baquba General Hospital before a group of about eight men armed with assault rifles burst into the detention ward and freed 13 prisoners, some insurgents others criminals, being treated there.

Two of the prisoners were later captured, police said, adding a search was now under way for the others.

Iraq's new national unity government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is struggling to contain sectarian and insurgent violence that US and Iraqi officials warn could pitch the country towards civil war.

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