This is how the deadly Russian prison conflict came about

A total of eight people were killed in the clash in the Volgograd prison.

New Delhi:

Four prison staff were killed on Friday when a group of inmates staged a violent uprising at the maximum security IK-19 Surovikino prison in Russia's Volgograd region. The knife-wielding inmates, who claimed allegiance to the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), took hostages and temporarily seized control of part of the prison, leading to a dramatic and deadly standoff with Russian special forces.

The crisis began during a routine meeting of the disciplinary commission, a report said. During the meeting, a group of prisoners, later identified as Ramzidin Toshev, 28, Rustamchon Navruzi, 23, Nazirchon Toshov, 28, and Temur Khusinov, 29, launched their attack. All four men, who are from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, stabbed guards with knives, wounding several others, and taking eight prison staff and four fellow inmates hostage.

During the siege, an image circulated on social media showing a prisoner holding a knife over a bloodied prison guard. Another video shows the attackers in the prison yard, where one of their hostages is in a sitting position with a bloodied face. In the videos released by the attackers, they declared their allegiance to ISIS and claimed that the attack was an act of revenge for the persecution of Muslims.

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As the situation escalated, Russian special forces, including heavily armed soldiers and elite snipers from the Rosgvardia national guard, were deployed on the scene. The prison in the remote town of Surovikino, about 850 kilometers south of Moscow, became a battlefield.

After hours of tense negotiations and strategic planning, the special forces stormed the facility. In the ensuing operation, all four attackers were shot dead by snipers, effectively ending the standoff. However, four prison employees lost their lives: three were killed on the spot, and a fourth succumbed to his injuries in hospital. In addition, several other guards and prisoners sustained injuries, some of them serious.

“Snipers from the special forces of the Russian National Guard neutralized four prisoners who had taken prison staff hostage in the Volgograd region with four targeted shots. The hostages were released,” the state news agency RIA quoted the National Guard as saying.

This is the second incident of this kind in recent months. In June, a similar hostage-taking took place in a prison in the Rostov region. There, too, prisoners linked to IS attempted an uprising in which five prisoners were killed and one was captured.

In response to the clash in Volgograd, Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed during a virtual meeting with security chiefs, confirming that the situation does not pose an immediate threat to civilians. “Everyone on our territory is obliged to respect and comply with the laws of Russia. We will not allow anyone to incite ethnic discord,” said Volgograd Region Governor Andrei Bocharov.