Knife-wielding ‘ISIS’ prisoners ‘slit Russian prison guard’s throat’ and take others hostage, demanding helicopter and £1.5m in ‘harsh regime’ penal colony

Prisoners posing as Islamic State militants and wielding knives are said to have slit the throat of a Russian prison guard and taken others hostage, demanding a helicopter and £1.5 million at a penal colony.

Russian sources report that at least one person has been killed and several others wounded. They are feared dead after the prisoners, who call themselves ISIS militants, attacked a Russian prison in the Volgograd region.

Gruesome images show two hostage-takers, one of whom is holding a prison guard with a bloody face.

At least four uniformed prison officers were seen lying or sitting in pools of blood. Three lay motionless, one with his throat cut. Another sat upright in a doorway, where a man with a knife held him by the neck.

One guard appeared to have his throat slit, while others were injured after fleeing the carnage. It was feared that one of the hostage-takers had explosives strapped to him.

The hostage-takers reportedly demanded a helicopter with a pilot, £1.5 million and an air corridor to the southeast to leave the country, promising to free the hostages in return. They threatened to kill the hostages if their demands were not met.

At least five uniformed prison officers were seen lying in pools of blood with a knife-wielding hostage-taker nearby

Russian sources report that at least one person has been killed and several more injured and feared dead after the prisoners, who describe themselves as members of ISIS, carried out their attack on a Russian prison – called IK-19 – in the Volgograd region.

The perpetrators – believed to be three or four – described themselves as ‘Mujahideen of the Islamic State’. At least one of them spoke Arabic. They said they had taken control of the penal colony where they were being held.

Russian state media reported that at least one prison staff member was killed, but the video suggests the death toll is almost certainly higher.

The prison service said in a statement: “During a disciplinary committee session, convicts took prison staff as hostages. Measures are currently being taken to free the hostages. There are victims.”

The prison is classified as a ‘strict regime’ penal colony and can accommodate up to 1,241 male prisoners.

Russian special forces were reported to be at the scene, about 150 kilometers southwest of the city of Volgograd.

The head of the IK-19 penal colony, Colonel Andrei Devyatov of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was taken hostage, but was reportedly later released or escaped. He was reportedly hit on the head with a hammer and a bottle.

One of the victims had his stomach cut open with a knife. The attackers tried to cut off the ear of another hostage, named Yuri Mavrin, who was later hospitalized.

A leader of a mosque in Volgograd is to be taken to prison for negotiating with radicals.

According to reports, the attackers had purchased knives at the penal colony in exchange for bribes.

Photos of the suspected attackers were released by Russian media, with the names Ramzidin Toshev (top left), Navruzi Rustamchon (top right), Nazirchon Toshov (bottom left), Temur Khusinov (bottom right).

Three prison employees were in intensive care after fleeing the horror, and prison guard Roman Ponomarev was in an “extremely serious condition.” Devyatov was also injured and in intensive care.

Another officer, Alexey Lygin, suffered stab wounds to the face and a fractured skull. He was in critical condition. A convict named Alexander Boyko suffered a stab wound to the abdomen.

Other smaller news sources reported four deaths and three injuries, but this was not confirmed.

The names of the suspected terrorists holding hostages are Ramzidin Toshev, Rustamchon Navruzi, Nazirchon Toshov and Temur Khusinov.

According to unconfirmed reports, two of them are from Uzbekistan and two from Tajikistan.

The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case based on articles about hostage-taking and prison disruption.

Russia, whose defense and security services are heavily focused on the war in Ukraine, has recently faced an increase in attacks by Islamic militants.

In June, a bloody prison uprising linked to the Islamic State took place in the southern Rostov region, in which special forces shot dead six prisoners who had taken hostages.

Later that month, at least 20 people were killed in shootings in two cities in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia.

In March, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack in which gunmen stormed the Crocus City concert hall near Moscow, fired at the audience with automatic weapons and set the building on fire, killing more than 140 people.