Prisoners take staff at a prison in southern Russia hostage

MOSCOW: On Friday, inmates at a penitentiary in the southern Russian region of Volgograd took staff hostage, the second such incident in Russian prisons since June.

The Federal Penitentiary Service reported that prisoners at the IK-19 correctional facility had taken several employees hostage and that there were casualties. Efforts are currently underway to free the hostages.

According to the Russian Investigative Committee, “several prisoners” were involved in the hostage-taking. Social media videos from Russia show about four prison guards being held captive. Some appear to be injured.

The IK-19 penal colony is located in Surovikino, about 850 kilometers south of Moscow. The incident occurred during a meeting of the prison's disciplinary commission.

In a similar incident in June, prisoners belonging to the Islamic State (IS) besieged a prison in the southern Rostov region. Russian special forces were eventually able to neutralize the hostage-takers and, after a lengthy standoff, free the guards.

No further details were released about Friday's incident, including the identities of the hostage takers or their demands.

The attack follows a deadly incident in March in which ISIS militants killed 145 people in a Moscow concert hall, the deadliest terrorist attack in Russia in two decades.

IS has repeatedly threatened Russia with retaliatory strikes because of its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's campaign against the terrorist militia.