Inmates take hostages in Russian prison and allegedly confess to Islamic State – The Tri-City Record

MOSCOW (AP) — Inmates at a Russian prison took guards hostage and claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group, injuring at least four people, Russian news reports said Friday.

Few details have been released about the violence at the Surovkino prison, 860 kilometers southeast of Moscow, and the number of hostage-takers or prisoners has not been disclosed.

Russian news site Meduza published a video purporting to be from the crime scene showing men with knives in the prison and prison yard, as well as several men in what appear to be guard uniforms lying on the floor covered in blood.

State news agency Tass said four victims had been taken to a local hospital and two of them were in serious condition. Unconfirmed reports on Telegram messaging channels said one or two people had died.

In the video, the alleged attackers expressed their support for IS and the suspects arrested in the terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall in March that killed 145 people. An IS affiliate claimed responsibility for the attack, in which gunmen killed patrons waiting for a popular music group to perform and set the building on fire.

Tass said court documents showed that four of the hostage-takers were from Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union; all suspects in the attack on the concert hall were from Tajikistan.

Authorities blocked the road leading to the prison and sent police to quell the violence.

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