close
Friday September 13, 2024
Today's Paper
Prayer Timing
Epaper
World

Inmates kill at least three guards in Russia prison siege

By AFP
August 24, 2024
Russian law enforcement officers drive along a road following the seizure of hostages by a group of inmates in the penal colony IK-19, in the town of Surovikino in the Volgograd Region, Russia August 23, 2024. —Reuters
Russian law enforcement officers drive along a road following the seizure of hostages by a group of inmates in the penal colony IK-19, in the town of Surovikino in the Volgograd Region, Russia August 23, 2024. —Reuters

MOSCOW: Inmates killed at least three Russian prison guards on Friday in a prison siege, officials said, with the assailants having apparent connections to the Islamic State (IS) group.

Russian special forces stormed the facility in Russia´s southern Volgograd region and shot dead all four attackers after an hours-long stand-off.

It was the second such case of IS-affiliated prisoners taking staff hostage since June, and comes with ethnic tensions running high following the terror attack on a Moscow concert hall in March.

“Four criminals took eight colony employees and four convicts hostage,” Russia´s federal penitentiary service said Friday. The assailants stabbed the employees, including some who tried to resist.