MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian security forces stormed a prison on Friday to free hostages seized by knife-wielding prisoners who identified themselves as Islamic State militants, according to news outlets with ties to the law enforcement services.
Reports said at least one of four hostage-takers had been killed. The Baza news channel said all the hostages had been rescued, without giving a number.
Earlier, at least one prison official was killed and two others were shown lying bloodied and motionless in video filmed by the attackers.
One of the men shouted in the video that they were mujahideen of Islamic State and had seized control of the prison in the Volgograd region.
Subsequent videos showed four attackers pacing about in a prison yard, where a bloodied prison staffer was being held hostage.
One of the prisoners involved in the incident appeared to have an improvised explosive vest and the others were carrying knives and hammers.
One of the men delivered a rambling monologue in which he said that Russia “oppresses Muslims everywhere”.
Russian news media said the four suspects were citizens of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and that three were in jail for drugs offences and the other for unpremeditated murder.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Maxim Rodionov and Filipp Lebedev in London; writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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