BAGHDAD - At least 20 American soldiers and 12 prisoners were wounded late Saturday in a 40-minute assault on US-run Abu Ghraib prison by dozens of fighters, the US military said.
"What we had was a well-coordinated attack of 40 to 60 insurgents on Forward Operating Base Abu Ghraib," said Lieutenant Colonel Guy Rudisill, the spokesman for US detention operations in Iraq.
The fighting kicked off at 7:00 pm (1500 GMT) as the sun began to set when a car bomb exploded at the prison's northeast corner, followed by rocket-propelled grenades, small arms and mortar fire," Rudisill said.
"Some of the fire was from nearby buildings."
A second car bomb went off soon after and insurgents started to attack the prison's southwest corner, he added.
At least one rebel was killed in the attack, he said.
US troops had been on high alert for a rebel offensive.
"We had some intel something like this might happen, but we really don't know why this large-scale attack happened tonight," Rudisill said.
It was the biggest attack on Abu Ghraib prison, the site of a US detainee scandal one year ago, since the January 30 election and the US-led offensive on the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah last November, Rudisill said.
"It was a 40-minute battle," another US military spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
The prison is now secure, the military said without providing further details.
A mortar strike on the prison on April 20 last year left 22 inmates dead.
At least 3,446 prisoners are held at Abu Ghraib, another 113 high-value detainees, including former leader Saddam Hussein, are held at Camp Cropper close to Baghdad airport, while another 8,800 prisoners are held at Camp Bucca in the south, Rudisill said.
04/02/2005 21:39 GMT