Russian National Guard snipers on Friday killed four inmates who had stabbed four prison guards to death and briefly held others hostage while declaring allegiance to the Islamic State group, officials said.
The Federal Prison Service said four inmates took eight guards and four inmates hostage. They stabbed four of the guards, three of whom died instantly and the fourth later died in hospital. The agency said three other guards were hospitalized with injuries.
The Russian National Guard said its snipers had “neutralized” the four attackers, freeing all the hostages, while the Federal Penitentiary Service also claimed responsibility for the attackers’ deaths. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.
Details of the violence at the IK-19 penal colony in Surovkino, Volgograd region, 860 kilometers southeast of Moscow, were scarce and it was unclear how the inmates took hostages hours earlier.
As the incident unfolded, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the “situation” would be discussed at a regular meeting of the country’s Security Council.
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Videos reportedly shot at the scene and circulating on Russian media and messaging apps showed men brandishing knives inside and in the courtyard of a prison and several men wearing what appeared to be guard uniforms lying bloodied on the ground.
In the videos, the alleged attackers claimed support for the Islamic State group and suspects arrested in the March terrorist attack. attack on concert hall in Moscow The attack left 145 people dead. An IS-affiliated group claimed responsibility for the attack, in which gunmen killed patrons waiting for a popular music band to perform and set the building ablaze.
At the time, a U.S. official told CBS News that the United States had provided intelligence to Russia about a potential attack as part of the intelligence community’s warning obligation.
The official Tass news agency reported that court documents showed that the hostage-takers were from former Soviet Union countries in Central Asia; all the suspects in the concert hall attack are from Tajikistan.
Volgograd Region Governor Andrei Bocharov referred to reports on social media that the attackers were not Russian citizens, but did not confirm their identities.
“Everyone on our territory is obliged to respect and obey the laws of Russia. We will not allow anyone to try to incite ethnic discord,” he said in a statement released by the regional administration.
An Islamic association – the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation – said it “categorically rejects” this “atrocity” and that it was “inspired from outside Russia.”
This is the second incident involving prisoners apparently linked to IS taking hostages, following a similar siege at a prison in the southern Rostov region in June.
Russian special forces then killed most of the hostage-takers, arrested one and freed the guards.
ISIS has repeatedly vowed to target Russia because of its support for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who has launched a military campaign to crush the group in the Middle East.
AFP contributed to this report.
