Dushanbe, May 20 (UNI) Three prison guards and a number of inmates were killed in a riot that broke out at a high-security prison in the western Tajik city of Vahdat, the country’s Deputy Justice Minister Mansurjon Umarov said on Monday.
The riot started on May 19 in the evening, when some 30 inmates serving sentences for membership in the Islamic State (IS) militant group took three prison guards hostage and killed them, Umarov said.
The inmates were reportedly armed with knives and other sharp objects, RFE/RL reported.
Rioters were also killed when authorities took "decisive measures...to stabilize the situation," the ministry said in a statement, without giving any specifics.
The situation is now under the authorities' control and an investigation has been opened into the riot.
The wives of some prisoners who were in a separate block of the facility for conjugal visits with their husbands reported that shooting started at about 2100 hrs and lasted for half an hour.
Residents said that they saw several ambulances, police patrol cars, and fire engines driving toward the facility.
Earlier in November, a riot broke out in a maximum security prison in the northern city of Khujand. According to official statements, 21 prisoners and two prison guards were killed.
UNI XC AVK 1129