ISIS gunmen exploit earthquake, escape Syria prison… Details
A number of members of the terrorist organization Daesh yesterday managed to escape from a prison in north-west Syria, taking advantage of civil disobedience carried out by prisoners following the earthquake that hit the region.
A prison source told Agence France Presse that 20 ISIS members escaped from the prison, which is run by the pro-Turkish military police, in the town of Rajo near the Turkish border. The prison holds about 2,000 prisoners, about 1,300 of whom are suspected members of the terrorist organization.
“After the quake hit, Raju Prison was affected, and yesterday evening there was an uprising by the prisoners who controlled sections of the prison,” the Raju Prison official said.
The source indicated that the earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.8, was followed by tens of aftershocks in the area, which caused cracks in the prison walls and doors.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it could not confirm if any prisoners had escaped, but confirmed there had been an uprising.
The Rajo incident follows an ISIS attack last December on a security complex in Racca, the former “capital of the caliphate” in Syria, with the aim of liberating jihadist comrades held there.
