Islamic Militants Blamed for Prison Riot that Killed At Least 32

A prison riot led by Islamic militants killed 32 people in Tajikistan Sunday.

File Photo by f11photo/Shutterstock/UPI

By Nicholas Sakelaris

(UPI) -- More than 30 people were have been killed in a prison riot in Tajikistan after Islamic militants instigated an uprising, authorities said.

Police said prisoners armed with knives killed at least three prison guards and five inmates Sunday at the Vakhdat correctional facility. They also set fire to the prison hospital and several inmates were taken hostage as the militants fought to escape.

Security forces said they killed two dozen militants.

"As a result of the response, which was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the law to re-establish order, 24 rioters were neutralized and 35 other prisoners were detained," the Tajik interior ministry said. "The usual regime in the institution, where 1,500 prisoners are serving their sentences, is restored and the situation is under control."

Officials said one of the main instigators of the riot was Bekhurz Gulmurod, the son of a Tajik special forces colonel who defected to the Islamic State in 2015 and was later killed in Syria. Bekhurz was jailed in 2017 for allegedly trying to join his father in Syria.

I would presume he was among those 'neutralized'! I contend that radical Muslims should be segregated from the remainder of a prison's population. They are insane, according to Syrian Psychiatrist Dr. Wafa Sultan: “I came to the absolute conviction that it is impossible…impossible…for any human being to read the biography of Mohammed and believe in it, and then emerge a psychologically and mentally healthy person.”