Islamic hostage-takers are killed by Russian snipers in order to conclude the prison siege

Officials reported that on Friday, Russia’s security services executed four inmates who had taken hostages at a penal colony, gravely stabbed four of its staff, and posted online videos where they identified themselves as Islamic State militants.

“With four precise shots, snipers from the special forces of the Russian National Guard in the Volgograd region successfully neutralized four prisoners who had taken prison employees hostage.” The hostages have been liberated, according to the National Guard, as reported by the state news agency RIA.

The federal prisons service declared that all four assailants had been “liquidated.” It stated that four of its employees had passed away due to stab wounds, while others were receiving medical treatment in a hospital. In total, eight prison employees and four convicts were being held captive, according to the report.

The victims were depicted lying in pools of blood in one of the videos posted by the assailants, with one of them having had his throat brutally cut. “Mujahideen” of Islamic State, shouted one of the captives.

In other videos, the attackers were observed pacing in a prison yard, where one of their captives was slumped in a sitting position, his face covered in blood.

President Vladimir Putin requested that the interior minister, FSB security director, and head of the National Guard provide a report on the incident during a weekly meeting of his Security Council. Subsequently, the operation to liberate the captives was implemented.

Attacks by Islamists

The recent surge in Islamist militant attacks in Russia has been a result of the country’s intense concentration on its war in Ukraine by its defense and security agencies.

Six inmates who had taken hostages were killed by special forces in June during a bloody prison uprising in the southern region of Rostov, which was affiliated to the Islamic State.

Later that month, shooting assaults occurred at a church, a synagogue, and a police checkpoint in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region of southern Russia, resulting in the deaths of at least 20 individuals.

An attack in March was claimed by Islamic State, in which militants raided the Crocus City concert hall near Moscow, sprayed the audience with automatic weapons fire, and set the building ablaze, resulting in the deaths of over 140 individuals.

Significant security concerns were raised by the most recent incident, which occurred two months following the June prison revolt. The manner in which the men had acquired knives to attack prison staff and mobile phones to film themselves and post multiple videos online was unclear.

One of the individuals shown in the video appeared to be wearing an improvised explosive vest, while the others were carrying blades and hammers.

In rambling monologues, they claimed that Russia “oppresses Muslims everywhere” and that they had acted “without mercy” in response to alleged maltreatment of Muslim prisoners, but their demands were not clear.

According to Russian news outlets, the four individuals were citizens of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Three of them were incarcerated for drug offenses, while the fourth was in custody for the homicide of an individual during a physical altercation.