Security stepped up in Baghdad

Iraqi security forces have been on maximum alert in Baghdad for the past few days in an attempt to recapture the militants who fled from two Iraqi jails and also to prevent any new attacks after a wave of deadly bombings throughout the country. Hundreds of inmates, including al Qaeda militants, fled from the high-security Abu Ghraib and Taji jails in a violent en masse break-out two weeks ago. The stepped up security, ordered by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, saw the deployment of additional police units and troops who set up checkpoints at key entrances to the Iraqi capital and at the city's inner roads. Troops carried out raids and searched homes as they checked out identities in search of the prisoners who fled on July 22. A senior Iraqi army officer told Petra's reporter in Baghdad that the campaign was authorized during a meeting between Maliki and top security commanders to track down the militants and the armed men who assisted them in the jail break. He said Iraq was on the highest state of alert to stop those militants from launching new attacks on vital places.