Suspected ISIS inmates broke out of a cell in a Russian detention centre and kidnapped two prison officers, holding them hostage.
They are holding the warders – one a colonel – at knifepoint in Rostov-on-Don close to the border with occupied Ukraine.
The six inmates – described as facing terrorist charges or already convicted – are demanding a getaway car and guns.
They were also seeking to access the jail’s gun store. The authorities were seeking to negotiate with the hostage-takers who were holed up with the two prisoner officers in a jail yard.
In one video, a suspected ISIS kidnapper brandishes a knife and declares: ‘We are in Rostov Central, where our brothers are imprisoned, given [jail] terms…
‘The Islamic State mujahideen have taken over the Сentral [detention jail], captured the infidels.’
A Russian lieutenant colonel named Alexander B was seen handcuffed with a wounded arm.
He is taunted: ‘Alexander, do you have anything to say? Say a few words. Your emotions, your feelings… People are serious, hear them.’
A younger prisoner officer is also seen with a ‘terrorist’ who waves a knife.
In another message the captors say: ‘We have set conditions by the grace of Allah so that they give us a car.
‘We ask Allah that we will not be captured alive by them.’
In another video, the ISIS kidnappers said: ‘This group was prepared by Allah Almighty Himself by His signs.
‘It was not done all spontaneously. It is not done all for nothing. We gave these infidels conditions that they give us a car and we leave.
‘We will see what happens next. We ask Allah that we may not be captured alive by them, so that Allah may accept us.’
Five of the six ISIS group were named M.S. Saipudinov, A.M Tsitskiev, D. V. Kamneev, T. M. Gireev and S.A. Akiev.
Gireev, Tsitskiev and Akiev were reportedly convicted in December 2023 for participation in a planned ISIS attack on the supreme court in Karachay-Cherkessia region in southern Russia.
They were sentenced to 18 years in jail.
The identity of the sixth invader has not yet been established. The other three were on remand over terrorist charges, it is understood.
Early this morning, Gireev, Akiev and Tsitskiev smashed window bars in their cell in the pre-trial detention centre and entered the jail’s duty station.
It is Vladimir Putin’s second ISIS nightmare in three months.
On 22 March, a terrorist attack was carried out by the Islamic State – Khorasan Province in the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow region.
A total of 145 people died in a shootout.