Prisoners in a northwestern Syria prison on Monday revolted after a deadly earthquake damaged the building. Atleast 20 of them who escpaed from the prison belonged to the Islamic State group members, a source at the facility told new agency AFP.
The military police prison located in the town of Rajo near the Turkish border has a total of 2,000 inmates, with around 1,300 of them suspected to be IS fighters, news agency AFP report quoted an official as saying. The prison also holds fighters from Kurdish-led forces.
The 7.8-magnitude quake on Monday was followed by several aftershocks that damaged the prison, with walls and doors cracking, the source added. “Rajo was impacted by the earthquake after which inmates started to mutiny and took control of parts of the prison," said the official at Rajo jail, which is controlled by pro-Turkish factions.
"About 20 prisoners fled... who are believed to be IS militants," the official added.
However, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor was not in a position to confirm whether prisoners had escaped, but said there was a mutiny.
The latest escape comes amid IS attack in December on a security complex in their former de facto Syrian capital of Raqa, which was aimed at freeing fellow jihadists from a prison.
The assault was thwarted but six members of the Kurdish-led security forces controlling the area were killed in the incident.
The Syrian conflict started in 2011 after peaceful protests were repressed which later escalated to draw interest of foreign powers and global jihadists.
Nearly half a million people were killed, and the conflict forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes, with many seeking refuge in Turkey.
More than 4,300 people have been reported dead in Turkiye and Syria after a powerful earthquake with magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale hit southern Turkiye in the early hours of Monday followed by two more shocks of intensity 7.6 and 6.