BAGHDAD: An onslaught on a convoy transferring inmates north of Baghdad left dozens dead on Thursday, as visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Iraq’s survival hinged on a more inclusive government.

Most of the 60 killed in the spectacular pre-dawn ambush were prisoners convicted of terrorism charges being transferred from Taji prison, barely 25 kilometres north of the capital.

Explosions from the attack were heard in some neighbourhoods of Baghdad, where UN chief Ban Ki-m­o­on landed on Thursday on an unsc­heduled stop in his Middle East tour.

“At least 60 people, prisoners and policemen, were killed in a suicide attack followed by several IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and shooting,” an interior ministry official said.

One security source said the inmates were being transferred as a precautionary measure after Taji prison was hit by mortar fire on Wednesday.

The exact circumstances of Thursday’s attack were not immediately clear, nor how many attackers were dead or how the prisoners they were apparently trying to free were killed.

The bus was believed to be transporting around 60 prisoners, and medics said 54 of those killed in the attack were inmates. Most of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition, they said.

Government forces were recently accused by rights watchdogs of having executed more than 250 prisoners since June 9.

Among the allegations are that members of the Iraqi security forces shot prisoners, on the grounds they were sympathetic to advancing forces from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, that jails were set on fire and that grenades were tossed into cells.

Sectarian tension: Since it launched a sweeping offensive on June 9, IS and allied Sunni groups have conquered the country’s second city Mosul, overrun large swathes of five provinces and declared a “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria.

The onslaught has fanned the flames of sectarian tension between Iraq’s Shia majority and Sunni minority that had already claimed thousands of lives this year alone.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s alliance comfortably won elections in April but he has faced mounting domestic and foreign pressure to step aside since the flare-up.

The premier has accused the Sunni mainstream of condoning the IS offensive and “dancing in the blood” of the onslaught’s victims.

But many retort it was Maliki’s own brand of sectarian politics that brought the country to the brink of collapse.

“Iraq is facing an existential threat but it can be overcome by the formation of a thoroughly inclusive government,” Ban said at a joint news conference with Maliki.

“It is critical that all political leaders fulfil their responsibilities to ensure that the government formation process falls within the constitutional timetable,” he said.

The UN chief highlighted the plight of the 600,000 Iraqis displaced over the past few weeks and encouraged the country’s fractious politicians to speed up the government formation process. Despite the billions of dollars spent on training and equipment by the United States during its eight-year occupation, Iraq’s million-strong army completely folded when insurgents attacked last month.—AFP

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2014