Iraq has tightened security measures on the border with Syria

Baghdad: Iraq has tightened security measures on the border with neighbouring Syria after a jailbreak by Islamic State (IS) terrorists in a Kurdish-controlled prison located in the latter country's Hasakah province.

On January 20, a group of IS militants escaped from the Sina'a prison in the Gweiran neighbourhood of Hasakah, followed by violent clashes between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the terror group, reports Xinhua news agency. "There are directives issued by the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces to double the security measures on the Iraqi-Syrian border," Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Saturday. 

The Iraqi



security forces are ready to confront any attempt by IS militants to infiltrate Iraqi territory, Rasoul was quoted as saying by INA.

 According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the IS militants blew off the gate of the Sina'a prison with a booby-trapped car and an explosive-laden fuel tanker.

It said a number of inmates fled the prison while many Kurdish security members were wounded. Captured IS militants have repeatedly tried to break free from the prison in Hasakah. A number of IS militants have been imprisoned by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) following the defeat of the terror group in Hasakah and parts of Deir al-Zour province.