Russian security forces stormed a detention centre in the city of Rostov-on-Don and killed six prisoners linked to Islamic State who had taken two guards hostage there, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The prisoners knocked out the window screens of their cells and lowered themselves by rope from the fourth floor of the prison.
According to the TASS state news agency, the men, armed with knives, fire axes and rubber batons, took two jail employees hostage and demanded a vehicle and free passage from the city before they would let them go.
In a statement, the prison service said: “The criminals have been liquidated.” The hostages escaped unharmed.
The Wall Street Journal reports that videos show the men wielding knives and holding flags of Islamic State. In one clip, a prisoner wearing a headband with Arabic writing is heard saying in Russian that the men “had been prepared by Almighty Allah,” and that the operation was “not spontaneous”.
The incident comes less than three months after militants carried out a deadly terrorist attack at a Moscow concert hall.
Following the concert hall attack, security experts suggested that the war with Ukraine had sapped Russia’s resources and distracted law enforcement from countering domestic violence.
Neither Islamic State nor ISIS-Khorasan claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack.
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