At least three prisoners from the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, nationals of Canada, Russia and Libya, escaped on Saturday while being transferred from a prison in Al Raqqa, a city in northern Syria that served as the capital of its self-proclaimed “caliphate,” reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
According to the NGO, at least five people escaped during the transfer of Al Matahin prison from Al Raqqa to another prison, but two of them, with nationality of Pakistan and Azerbaijan, were captured by the Kurdish-led alliance Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The other three, of Canadian, Russian and Libyan nationality, managed to escape from the truck that was transporting them to another prison and their whereabouts are unknown.
According to the Observatory, which is based in the United Kingdom but has a wide network of collaborators on the ground, the Kurdish-Syrian security forces have deployed in the area and have imposed a cordon around the prison to search for the fugitives.
Raqqa was the de facto capital of the Islamic State in Syria during its self-proclaimed “caliphate” from 2014 until the liberation of the city in June 2017 and is not usually the target of operations by the terrorist group.
They have carried out actions on a few occasions since then, such as the attack on a police station at the end of 2022 that caused six casualties in the Kurdish-Syrian ranks and prompted a major anti-jihadist campaign by these forces in collaboration with the international coalition led by the United States.
Riots have also occurred in several of the prisons overcrowded with members of the terrorist group under the control of the FSD.
The Islamic State was defeated territorially in the country in 2019, but it still maintains active cells mainly in the vast Badia desert, where it takes advantage of the complex topography to launch ambushes and retreat with hardly any casualties.