Prison guards taken hostage by Islamic State in Russian jail freed unharmed, authorities say

LAST UPDATE | 16 Jun

TWO PRISON GUARDS at a jail in southern Russia have been freed without harm after they were taken hostage by Islamic State inmates, with the assailants “liquidated”, the country’s prison service said today.

“During a special operation… the criminals were liquidated and the employees taken hostage were freed and were not wounded,” the service said in a statement.

An earlier statement this morning said “inmates took two prison officers hostage” in detention centre Number One of the Rostov region and that negotiations on the release of the hostages were underway.

According to a police source interviewed by the state news agency TASS, IS members who are due to appear in court on terrorism charges were among the hostage takers.

Russia has been the target for several attacks claimed by the jihadist organisation.

On 22 March, gunmen killed at least 144 people when they opened fire at a concert hall near Moscow in the deadliest attack on Russian soil for two decades.

Hundreds more were injured.

More than 20 people have since been arrested, including the four suspected attackers, all from the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

IS claimed responsibility for the attack.