MOSCOW — Inmates at a pre-trial detention center in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don have taken two employees hostage, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said Sunday.
Russian state news agency Tass, citing unnamed sources in law enforcement, said that six hostage takers were in the central courtyard of the Rostov region’s Detention Center No. 1, armed with a penknife, a rubber baton and a fire ax. The prisoners include men accused of links to the Islamic State group, it said.
In a statement, officials said that the situation was “under control” and that negotiations were underway to free the hostages. It added that employees from the Federal Penitentiary Service’s central office were traveling to the scene.
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.