Eight policemen and three Qaida members were killed and 10 policemen wounded when the militants attempted to escape from a police station in the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, a provincial police source said Friday.

"There was an attempt of escape from the prison of the Fursan police station in Ramadi after midnight, when 12 suspected Qaida detainees escaped and traded fire with their guards," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The prisoners first escaped from their cell and took over the station, killing two police officers and six policemen and wounding 10 others, including two in critical conditions, the source said.

Three Qaida prisoners were killed and nine others escaped, the source added.

The Sunni province of Anbar had been a major stronghold for al- Qaida militants in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Situation began to go in favor of the U.S. military after the Sunnis shifted side and turned their guns against al-Qaida members in 2006 because they opposed to the indiscriminate terror attacks on civilians.

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2008)