Saddam Hussein’s nephew has escaped from prison, prompting the arrest of the facility’s warden and his deputy.

Ayman al-Sabawi, who is accused of funding the Sunni insurgency, broke out on Saturday, triggering a huge manhunt.

Al-Sabawi’s flight coincided with more sectarian violence in Baghdad and bitter criticism of the US Iraq Study Group report by Jalal Talabani, the President of Iraq.

Al-Sabawi escaped from Badoush prison, near the northern city of Mosul, after most probably bribing the night captain of the facility to free him, Interior Ministry officials said.The captain, who convinced guards to release al-Sabawi by showing them a fake transfer order, has disappeared along with his family, the officials said.

The Interior Ministry has jailed the prison warden and his deputy and opened an investigation, Major-General Abdul Kareem Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman, told state television.

Mosul police said that the two officials had been detained late on Saturday night and were being questioned yesterday. Al-Sabawi, who was serving a life sentence, had attempted to escape a month ago in a scheme orchestrated by a group of Saddam loyalists identifying themselves Aawda (the Return Group).

Sixty police cars were hunting for al-Sabawi in and around Mosul, a stronghold of former military officers and members of Saddam’s regime.

Al-Sabawi is the son of Saddam’s half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikrit. He was captured last year near Saddam’s home town of Tikrit.

Al-Sabawi’s father, who was No 36 on the US list of the most wanted 55 officials of the former regime, was captured by Iraqi security forces near the Syrian border in February 2005. Damascus was believed to have played an important role in his arrest.

Meanwhile, Mr Talabani, a Kurd, savaged the US bipartisan Iraq Study Group’s findings to reporters summoned to his residence. “It contains very dangerous articles that undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and its constitution,” he said.

“I consider the report to be a type of insult to the Iraqi people.”

The panel, led by James Baker, the former US Secretary of State, and Lee Hamilton, the former Democratic congressman, recommended more centralised control of the vast oil wealth of Iraq and placing thousands more US advisers in the country’s security forces.

The Kurds, in particular, have felt threatened by the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations advocating a bigger role for the central government, which they are concerned could endanger the regional autonomy that they have enjoyed since 1991.

Sectarian violence swept Baghdad over the weekend.

Shia militias assaulted Sunni homes in Baghdad’s religiously mixed Hurriya district on Saturday, forcing more than 30 families to flee after militias burnt their homes, Interior Ministry officials said.

In another development, Donald Rumsfeld, the outgoing US Defence Secretary, paid a surprise visit to Iraq yesterday and said that US forces should not quit the war until the enemy is defeated.

Iraq, 10.12.06

95 suspected insurgents arrested in Baghdad
40 bodies, many shot and tortured, were found across the Iraqi capital
30 Sunni families forced to flee Baghdad's religiously mixed Hurriya area by Shia militias
5 Shia brothers, one a policeman, shot dead

Source: Reuters

The Times is the only British paper to maintain a full-time Baghdad bureau

Ned Parker blogs live from Baghdad

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