Russian Forces Freed 2 Prison Guards, Kill 6 ISIS-Linked Inmates

Russian special forces freed two prison guards and shot dead six inmates linked to the Islamic State militant group who had taken them hostage at a detention centre in the southern city of Rostov yesterday. Russian state media reported that some of the men had been convicted of terrorism offences and accused of affiliating with the Islamic State militant group, which claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall in March.

 

The six hostage takers, one of whom wore a headband with the Islamic State flag, knocked out window bars and climbed down several floors by rope before taking the guards hostage with a knife and fire axe. In a video published by the 112 Telegram channel, one of the hostage takers was shown



brandishing a knife beside one of the bound guards in Rostov-on-Don. During negotiations with the authorities, they demanded free passage out of the prison. However, Russian special forces decided to storm the prison.

 

Intense automatic gunfire could be heard in clips published on Telegram channels. Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service stated that the criminals were eliminated and the employees who were being held hostage were released unharmed. According to local media reports, the hostage takers were from Russia’s southern republic of Ingushetia, and three of them had been detained in 2022 for planning an attack on a court in another Russian republic, Karachay-Cherkessia.