Two prison guards at a jail in southern Russia have been freed without harm after they were taken hostage by inmates of the militant Islamic State (IS) group, with the assailants “liquidated”, the country’s prison service said on Sunday.
“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.
“The inmates took two prison officers hostage” in detention centre Number One of the Rostov region, the statement read. It added that negotiations were under way during the siege.
According to a police source interviewed by the state news agency TASS, IS members who were due to appear in court on terrorism charges were among the hostage takers.
Russia has been the target of several attacks claimed by the jihadist organisation.
On March 22, 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.
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