- Joined
- Mar 6, 2018
- Messages
- 600
- Points
- 278
Three prison guards and 29 inmates were killed in a prison riot in Tajikistan that the government blamed on Islamic State militants.
Tajikistan's Justice Ministry said the riot broke out late on Sunday in the prison in the city of Vakhdat, 10 km east of the capital Dushanbe, as militants armed with knives killed three guards and five fellow prisoners.
The militants then torched the prison hospital, took several inmates hostage and tried to fight their way out. Security forces killed 24 militants in the battle to restore order in the prison, the ministry said. The prison houses 1,500 inmates.
Among prisoners who were killed were two senior members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), an Islamist party outlawed by the government of President Imomali Rakhmon in 2015. Another was a prominent Tajik cleric convicted on charges of calls to overthrow the government.
Tajikistan's Justice Ministry said the riot broke out late on Sunday in the prison in the city of Vakhdat, 10 km east of the capital Dushanbe, as militants armed with knives killed three guards and five fellow prisoners.
The militants then torched the prison hospital, took several inmates hostage and tried to fight their way out. Security forces killed 24 militants in the battle to restore order in the prison, the ministry said. The prison houses 1,500 inmates.
Among prisoners who were killed were two senior members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), an Islamist party outlawed by the government of President Imomali Rakhmon in 2015. Another was a prominent Tajik cleric convicted on charges of calls to overthrow the government.
