A prison guard and prisoner were killed during a jailbreak by a trio of radical inmates in Tajikistan’s north, police in the ex-Soviet country said Saturday.
An interior ministry spokesman told AFP that prison guards in the city of Khujand opened fire on the three inmates as they attempted to escape late Friday, killing one and detaining another whom they wounded.
Only one of the three convicts, serving lengthy sentences on extremism charges, successfully escaped from the prison, according to the ministry.
“The three militants had planned to join the ranks of Daesh,” the spokesman said, referring to the Islamic State extremist group the government regularly cites as a source of extremism in the country. The inmates killed the prison guard using a “sharp object,” the spokesman added without providing further detail.
According to the spokesman, the dead convict had been sentenced for fighting with the Islamic State, while the escaped prisoner had fought with an extremist group in Pakistan’s Waziristan region.
Tajik authorities have promised a reward for information on the whereabouts of the escapee, a 28-year-old who was serving a 20-year prison sentence, the spokesman said.
Secular Tajikistan has faced international criticism for its crackdown on religious groups and political opposition in the country.

Source: Arab News