Four prison staff were killed after a group of inmates staged a violent uprising at the high-security IK-19 Surovikino penal colony in Russia’s Volgograd region on Friday. Armed with knives and claiming allegiance to the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), the inmates seized hostages and temporarily took control of a section of the prison, leading to a dramatic and deadly standoff with Russian special forces.
According to reports, the crisis began during a regular meeting of the Disciplinary Commission. While the meeting was going on, a group of inmates, later identified as Ramjidin Toshev (28), Rustamchon Navruji (23), Nazirchon Toshov (28) and Temur Khusinov (29), hailed from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. They attacked guards with knives, injuring several and took eight prison staff and four fellow inmates hostage.
During the siege, a photo circulated on social media showing a prisoner holding a knife at a bloodied prison guard. Another video showed the attackers in the prison courtyard, where one of their hostages sat with a bloodied face. In a video released by the attackers, they declared their allegiance to ISIS and claimed the attack was carried out to avenge the persecution of Muslims.
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As the situation worsened, Russian special forces, including heavily armed soldiers of the Rosgvardia National Guard and elite marksmen, were deployed to the scene. The prison, located in the remote town of Surovikino, around 850 kilometres south of Moscow, became a battleground.
After several hours of tense negotiations and strategic planning, the special forces stormed the facility. In the ensuing operation, all four attackers were shot dead by snipers, effectively ending the standoff. However, four prison staff lost their lives, three of whom died on the spot and the fourth who succumbed in hospital. In addition, several other guards and inmates suffered injuries, some of them serious.
“Shooters from the special forces of the Russian National Guard in the Volgograd region killed four prisoners who took prison staff hostage with four precise shots. The hostages have been released,” state news agency RIA quoted the National Guard as saying.
This is the second such incident in recent months, following a similar hostage-taking incident in June at a prison in the Rostov region, where ISIS-affiliated inmates also attempted a revolt, resulting in the deaths of five inmates and the capture of one.
In response to the Volgograd standoff, Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed during a virtual meeting with security chiefs, where it was confirmed that the situation poses no immediate threat to the civilian population. “Everyone in our region is obliged to respect and abide by the laws of Russia. We will not allow anyone to try to incite ethnic discord,” Volgograd regional governor Andrei Bocharov said.
