Russian forces storm undertrial prison to rescue staff taken hostage

Russian police and servicemen near the detention center. Pic/AP

Security forces stormed a detention centre in southern Russia on Sunday, killing inmates who had taken two members of staff hostage, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Sunday.

The hostages at the pre-trial detention centre in Rostov-on-Don were uninjured, said RIA Novosti, citing Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service. It said that the hostage takers had been "liquidated", with other local news outlets reporting that at least some of the prisoners had been killed.

Earlier, state news agency Tass, citing unnamed sources in law enforcement, had said that six hostage takers were in the central courtyard of the Rostov region's Detention Centre No. 1, armed with a penknife, a rubber baton and a fire axe. The prisoners include men accused of links to the Islamic State group, it said.

IS have carried out a number of attacks on Russian soil in recent years, including most recently in March when gunmen opened fire on a crowd at a concert hall in suburban Moscow, killing 145 people.

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