Moscow, June 16: At least three prisoners in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, who took employees hostage during an escape bid on Sunday morning, were killed by security forces in a storming operation, officials said.

According to authorities, the men who tried to break out of the remand facility were accomplices of the Islamic State (IS).

During the storming operation, "the criminals were eliminated, the employees who were held hostage have been released and are safe," the Russian penitentiary service told the state news agency TASS.

It was initially reported that six men tried to break out of the facility and took two guards hostage.

A video posted earlier by Russian media allegedly showed a hostage-taker who described himself and the other inmates as supporters of IS.

The escape bid began early on Sunday morning.

The prisoners reportedly broke through the barred window of their cell block and entered adjacent staff rooms, where they overwhelmed the head of operations and others.

The men were said to have been armed with knives and other sharpened objects. In return for the release of the hostages, they were demanding firearms, an escape vehicle, and free passage.

The breakout was contained, and surveillance of inmates continued in other parts of the facility while police cordoned off traffic in the vicinity of the prison.

The authorities said they were investigating whether the escape attempt had been coordinated from outside.

Three hostage takers had been sentenced to 18 years in jail in December 2023 for plotting to blow up the Supreme Court building in Karachay-Cherkessia, southern Russia, TASS reported, citing the court verdict.

The residents of Russia's predominantly Ingushetia had previously sworn an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State, according to the verdict. Their jail sentence had not yet taken effect.

--IANS/DPA

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