A mutiny broke out in Syria on Sunday in a Kurdish forces prison where people accused of belonging to the Islamic State jihadist group are held, reported an NGO and a security official, adding that prisoners have escaped.
The head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition dominated by Kurdish fighters, was unable to give the number of fugitives or their nationality. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) spoke of "at least four fugitives".
Late Sunday evening, the situation remains tense in Ghouiran prison, in the town of Hassaké (northeastern Syria) and research is continuing to catch up with the escapees, these two sources said.
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The "mutiny" was carried out by "elements of the Islamic State group" , according to the OSDH, which indicates that the prison receives nearly 5,000 prisoners "of different nationalities" and accused of belonging to IS. The NGO has a vast network of sources across the country at war.
On his twitter account, an SDF spokesperson, Mustafa Bali, admitted that a "mutiny" took place, adding that the prisoners "broke walls and tore down interior doors". "The situation is still tense inside the prison (...), the forces are trying to regain control," he said late Sunday evening, referring to the dispatch of reinforcements.
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For his part, an SDF official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that "elements of IS had revolted" in the prison. "Some of them were able to go out into the prison yard," said the source. “The security forces are on high alert. International coalition (anti-IS) planes fly over the prison and the region, " said the official.
A year after proclaiming on March 23, 2019 the eradication of the IS caliphate in Syria, Kurdish forces still detain some 12,000 jihadists in several prisons in northeastern Syria, according to their statistics.