Prison inmates in northwestern Syria rioted Monday after a devastating earthquake hit the area as at least 20 of them managed to escape from a facility that houses prisoners, most of whom are members of the Islamic State. a prison source told AFP. The military police prison is held in the city of Rajo, near the Turkish border, with about 2,000 prisoners, about 1,300 of whom are suspected of belonging to ISIS, according to the source. The prison also holds militants of the Kurdish forces.
“After the earthquake, the Rajo prison was damaged, and tonight (…) a mutiny began from the prisoners who took control of parts of the prison,” said an official at the Rajo prison, which is controlled by pro-Turkish groups. . He added: “According to preliminary estimates of the prison, about 20 people escaped from the prison, and they are considered ISIS prisoners.” The source indicated that the 7.8 magnitude earthquake was followed by dozens of aftershocks in the area, resulting in cracks in the walls and doors of the prison.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it could not verify whether the prisoners had escaped, but confirmed a mutiny. And the Syrian government and aid agencies announced that about 1,444 people died on Monday in Syria as a result of a devastating earthquake that originated in southwestern Turkey.
The White Helmets, which operate in areas in the north not controlled by Damascus, said 733 people were killed and more than 2,100 were injured. The Raju incident follows an ISIS attack in December on a security compound in Raqqa, the capital of the former caliphate in Syria, to free jihadist comrades-in-arms from prison there. The failed attack killed six members of the Kurdish-led forces that control the area. During the years of conflict in Syria, thousands of foreign fighters have joined the ranks of jihadist organizations in Syria, especially ISIS. Syria has witnessed a bloody conflict since 2011 that has claimed the lives of about half a million people, caused massive damage to infrastructure and displaced millions of people inside and outside the country.
