CNN
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Prisoners at a Russian maximum security prison have killed one staff member and taken others hostage, Russian state media reported on Friday.
Inmates have captured employees of a correctional facility during a meeting of the disciplinary commission, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service told state media outlet TASS. The incident occurred in the IK-19 penal colony in the town of Surovikino in Russia’s southern Volgograd region.
“At a meeting of the disciplinary commission (which, among other things, considers cases of malicious violators) of the colony, several prisoners were detained by employees,” the penitentiary service said, according to TASS.
According to TASS, at least three prisoners were involved in the attack; a hostage rescue operation is underway.
A video circulating on Russian social media appears to show four prison staff members taken hostage, one of whom is covered in blood. Three hostage-takers can be seen, one of whom is holding a knife. CNN has not confirmed the footage.
The incident follows another hostage-taking in Russia in June, when two staff members at a pre-trial detention center in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don were freed after being held hostage by six inmates for several hours.
Those arrested had links to the Islamic State and were killed in the operation.
This is a developing story. More to come…
