VOI cited a security source in Wasit province, 180 kilometres south-east of Baghdad, as reporting the prison escape, and said that police had managed to recapture four of them.
The source, who declined to be identified, told VOI the 24 Iranians had broken through the prison’s main gate to make their escape.
The report said a search for the escaped prisoners was underway and a state of siege declared in the area of Badra, 80 kilometres east of the Wasit capital of Kut.
Badra lies on the border with Iran. The Iranian escapees were all being held for allegedly having entered the country illegally.
