ISIS prisoners at a remote Russian prison staged an attempted revolt Friday that left eight dead, officials said.
The four terrorists were gunned down by snipers at the IK-19 Surovikino facility in the southwestern Volgograd region after they took four inmates and eight prison guards hostage — fatally stabbing four of the guards, according to the Federal Prison Service (FSIN).
Three other guards were hospitalized with injuries.
Special force snipers “neutralized” the inmates, who identified themselves as Islamic State militants, with “four precise shots,” the agency claims.
Videos that purportedly came from the scene show the knife-wielding attackers pacing in a prison yard with their victims laid in pools of blood.
Some shouted that they were acting to avenge the persecution of Muslims.
The attempted coup began during a disciplinary commission meeting, BBC reported, citing FSIN.
Some local reports indicate the prison’s director and deputy director were among those seized.
The dead assailants were identified as Ramzidin Toshev, 28, Rustamchon Navruzi, 23, Nazirchon Toshov, 28, and Temur Khusinov, 29. All were from former Soviet Central Asian countries, local media stated.
The FSIN denied that the attackers had taken control of the entire prison, saying: “The criminals took hostages and occupied one single room on the territory of the colony.”
The uprising is the second such incident this summer — six ISIS prisoners took two guards captive at a facility in the neighboring Rostov region. Five were killed and the survivor was sentenced to 20 years.
IK-19 Surovikino is a high-security penal colony that has a population of about 1,200 inmates.
With Post wires