Fifty inmates and 12 policemen were killed when a riot erupted and dozens escaped from an Iraqi prison holding hundreds of people jailed for acts of terrorism, security and police officials said on Saturday.
Separately Saturday, a car bomb targeting Shiite pilgrims on an annual march to a Baghdad shrine killed at least seven people and wounded 20, security and medical sources said.
The deaths occurred on site at the Al-Khalis prison, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, and during a manhunt for the fugitive convicts overnight, said the officials.
They said 14 policemen were wounded in the latest violence to highlight the multiple security challenges facing Iraq, which is battling an insurgency from ISIS (also known as Daesh).
The officials said Al-Khalis held about 300 people convicted of terrorism charges. In Iraq, terrorism cases are mainly linked to Islamist militants, including ISIS, which controls large parts of Iraqand Syria and which the Iraqi military is fighting to dislodge.
It was not clear if any high-profile prisoners were held at Al-Khalis, the head of Diyala's security committee, Seyyid Sadiq al-Husseini, said.
"The inmates started fighting among themselves, which drew the attention of the police guards who went to break up the fight," said a police source, asking not to be named.
"Then the prisoners attacked them, stripped them of their weapons and started a riot while also managing to capture the armory of the prison."
Authorities declared a curfew in Al-Khalis and raided houses in search of escaped convicts, said another police source.
The Iraqi government is battling ISIS in the north and west of the country with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes, and is also trying to contain widespread sectarian violence.
Also Saturday, a car bomb in Baghdad on Saturday killed seven civilians and wounded 14 others, police and medical sources said.
"A car parked near Kahramana square exploded... It was targeting Shiite pilgrims," a police colonel said.
An Iraqi interior ministry official said at least seven people were killed and 20 wounded in the blast, which sent a plume of dark smoke billowing into the sky above the central neighborhood of Karrada.
A medical source confirmed the casualty toll.
Worshippers have in recent days started walking to Kadhimiya, site of a shrine dedicated to Imam Musa Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered imams in Shiite Islam, who died in 799 AD.
Security forces close some streets to traffic for the days-long pilgrimage, during which the marching worshippers and the hundreds of tents along their path where they can rest, eat and drink are considered particularly vulnerable to attacks.
