Dozens of Iraqi prisoners rioted against guards in the US-run Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad and pelted them with stones, the US military said Tuesday.

The incident started when one prisoner tried to escape under cover of darkness on Sunday night, aided by a violent sandstorm.

The escapee was re-captured by guards, the army said, "after which prisoners in various parts of the prison started to throw stones onto portable light generators and at prison guards."

A rapid response unit brought the situation under control. Four guards and six prisoners were slightly injured during the riot.

More than a year ago, the facility hit the headlines when photographs documented the abuse of Iraqi soldiers by the US military in the prison. Several soldiers have since been convicted for the abuse.

It is believed that the US army is currently holding some 3,500 people at Abu Ghraib.

Bombings in northern Iraq

Meanwhile, four bombings, including three suicide attacks, within 7 minutes killed at least 22 people and wounded 39 in northern Iraq early Tuesday, while the US military said two Marines were killed in separate roadside explosions, sharply ending a relative lull in violence that fell over the country in recent days.

Police said another car bomb exploded in northern Baghdad, wounding 27 civilians and one policeman in another vicious attack Tuesday, which followed two days during which 11 people died, far below a daily average of more than only 20 people being killed in violence since Iraq's new government was announced April 28.

Hundreds of US and Iraqi soldiers descended on the remote northern city of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, Tuesday, launching a major operation against insurgents following weeks of attacks against Iraqi security services there.

Tuesday's early morning attacks in and around Hawija, 240 kilometres north of Baghdad, appeared co-ordinated and aimed at checkpoints manned by members of Iraq's fledgling army, which has been a constant target of insurgents opposed to the country's new government.

Also Tuesday, Iraq's government backed away from recent claims that Saddam Hussein could be tried within weeks, saying it was up to the country's independent Special Tribunal to decide when he goes to court.

Senior officials, including the president and the prime minister's spokesman, had said in the past week that Saddam could be tried within two months and indicated he could be the first member of the former regime to appear in court.

The announcements appeared designed to show that the government was making progress in bringing the former president to justice more than two years after his overthrow, and amid growing pressure from Iraqis for a trial.

But the Special Tribunal, an independent body set up in late 2003 by US-backed authorities, issued a statement reiterating its independence and saying no date had been set for any trial.

"Any appointment to start the trials belongs to the decision of the judges who will take a look at the claims against the accused after finishing the investigation procedures," it said.

Source: China Daily