Syria earthquake: 20 inmates escape jail housing Islamic State terrorists

The army police jail within the city of Rajo close to the Turkish border holds about 2,000 inmates, with about 1,300 of them suspected to be IS fighters.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Feb 7, 2023 14:34 IST

Civil protection staff comb search via the wreckage of collapsed buildings in Hama, Syria. (AP photograph)

By India Today Web Desk: Following a lethal earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday, at the very least 20 prisoners took benefit and escaped from a northwestern Syrian jail holding largely Islamic State (IS) terrorists.

The army police jail within the city of Rajo close to the Turkish border holds about 2,000 inmates, with about 1,300 of them suspected to be IS fighters, as reported by the information company AFP.

The 7.8-magnitude quake — which was adopted by dozens of aftershocks within the area — precipitated injury to the jail, with partitions and doorways cracking.

“After the earthquake struck, Rajo was affected and inmates started to mutiny and took control of parts of the prison,” mentioned the official at Rajo jail.

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The incident in Rajo comes on the heels of an IS assault in December on a safety complicated of their former de facto Syrian capital of Raqa, which aimed to free fellow jihadists from a jail there, AFP reported.

The demise toll within the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria crossed 4,000 on Tuesday. An extra 14,483 folks had been injured at the same time as rescue operations had been underway to tug out extra survivors from beneath the rubble.

Three quakes of magnitude 7.8, 7.6 and 6.0 struck one after the opposite, leaving 1000’s of collapsed buildings in its wake. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck the central Turkey area on Tuesday. More than 5,600 buildings had been destroyed in Turkey alone and round 224 extra in northwestern Syria.

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Published On:

Feb 7, 2023