A MEMBER of al-Qaeda in Iraq who broke out of jail has been killed in a firefight while two other prisoners on the run have been surrounded by police. "We killed 'Imad the killer' and he is lying on the street in front of me," an officer said. "We are exchanging gunfire with the other two who are hiding in a house in Street number 20 in the centre of the city."The man killed by Iraqi forces, Imad Ahmed Farhan, was nicknamed "Imad the killer" because police say he has admitted to murdering at least 100 people. The men escaped from Forsan police station in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, yesterday in a brazen breakout that sparked a gunbattle which killed 13 militants and policemen.
The incident began at around 2am when a prisoner called out that he was sick, and a policeman went to a communal cell to check. When the officer entered the cell holding 40 men, 13 of them al-Qaeda members, they grabbed him and cut his throat with a makeshift knife. They then seized his gun and went to the police chief's office and slit his throat. The 11 al-Qaeda prisoners then dashed into the courtyard where they shot a lieutenant and made it to the armoury before the gun battle erupted.