About 20 suspected IS fighters take advantage of the chaos to escape

by time news

The earthquake and its aftershocks, which claimed more than 3,800 lives according to a latest report on Monday evening, including more than 1,440 in Syria, benefit Daesh. About 20 suspected fighters from the Islamic State (IS) group escaped from a Syrian prison during a mutiny following the earthquake that shook the region on Monday, we learned from a source within of the establishment.

Rajo military prison, located near the Turkish border in northwest Syria, has some 2,000 detainees, including around 1,300 suspected of having fought for IS, the source said. It also hosts Kurdish fighters.

A prison controlled by pro-Turkish forces

“Following the earthquake, which affected Rajo, the inmates launched a mutiny and took control of parts of the prison.” “About twenty prisoners escaped (…) They are believed to be members of IS,” added this source, who did not wish to be identified. Located in a rebel zone, Rajo prison is controlled by pro-Turkish forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in London with an extensive network of sources in the war-torn country, for its part confirmed the occurrence of a mutiny but specified that it was not able to tell if prisoners had escaped. The earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8, whose epicenter was located less than 100 km from Rajo, near Gaziantep in Turkey, notably weakened the doors and walls of the prison.

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