IS-linked inmates killed as Russians end hostage siege

Russian special forces freed two prison guards and shot dead six inmates linked to the Islamic State militant group who had taken them hostage at a detention center in the southern city of Rostov yesterday.

State media said that some of the men had been convicted of terrorism offences and were accused of affiliation with the Islamic State militant group, which claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall in March.

The hostage takers, one of whom wore a headband with the flag used by Islamic State that bears an Arabic inscription, knocked out window bars and climbed down several floors by rope to take the guards hostage with a knife and fire axe.

In a video, one was shown brandishing a knife beside one of the bound guards in Rostov-on-Don. In negotiations, they demanded free passage out of the prison.

But Russian special forces decided to storm the prison, with intense automatic gunfire being heard in footage before the six dead men were shown in pools of blood.

Islamic State Khorasan, named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the March attack on the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow in which 145 people died.