MOSCOW (AP) — Pretrial detainees in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don have taken two employees hostage, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said Sunday.
Russia’s state news agency Tass, citing anonymous law enforcement sources, said six hostage takers were in the central courtyard of the Rostov region’s No. 1 detention center, armed with a pocket knife, a rubber club and a fire axe. The detainees include men accused of links to Islamic State, the report said.
In a statement, officials said the situation was “under control” and negotiations were underway to free the hostages. It added that employees from the central office of the Federal Penitentiary Service traveled to the scene of the accident.
IS has carried out a number of attacks on Russian territory in recent years, including the most recent in March, when gunmen opened fire on a crowd at a concert hall in a Moscow suburb, killing 145 people.
