Jailbreak in Iraq foiled, one prisoner killed

BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces said they shot dead a convicted jihadist on Saturday as he tried to escape from a prison with two accomplices.

The three prisoners, all members of the Islamic State group, were serving life sentences at the Taji penitentiary north of Baghdad, the security services said in a statement.

They were spotted as they tried to break out of jail by climbing over an external wall, the statement said. Guards opened fire "when they refused to heed warnings", it said, adding one prisoner was killed while the two others "surrendered".

"The three terrorists had been sentenced to life in jail," the statement said without identifying them.

The Islamic State group swept across swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014 where they set up so-called caliphate.