Insight - Iraq security forces outmatched as "open war" returns

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The prison guards were counting inmates after the evening meal at Abu Ghraib jail when suddenly the lights went out. By the time they realised what was going on, the biggest combat operation by Iraqi insurgents in five years was under way.

Prisoners set clothes on fire and rioted inside the jail. Militants attacked it from outside with rocket-propelled grenades. A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives blasted his way through the main gate.