Islamic State fighters captured Friday after attacking a prison in Syria where thousands of their comrades are held
Fighters from the Islamic State launched a brazen attack on a prison holding thousands of their comrades in northeastern Syria, setting off deadly clashes with the Kurdish-led militia that controls the area, Kurdish officials said Friday.
The fighting continued throughout the day with numerous casualties, but there were conflicting reports of how many people were killed and how many prisoners had escaped.
The jihadist fighters began their assault on the prison in the city of Hasaka, Syria, on Thursday night by detonating a car bomb near the entrance and then unleashing hails of gunfire at the guards, the officials said.
The prisoners inside then rioted, hoping to help the attackers set them free.
Local news media published photos of scores of prisoners who had been restrained and lined up along walls or put on the ground in tents. Videos posted on social media showed smoke rising from the prison as automatic gunfire rang out while nearby residents fled, carrying children and bags of belongings.
A video circulated by local activists showed what appeared to be an airstrike by the United States-led coalition on a building near the prison occupied by Islamic State fighters.
The local Kurdish-led security forces said that seven of their members had been killed in the clashes. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a conflict monitor based in Britain, said that 39 Islamic State attackers, 35 members of the Kurdish-backed militia and five civilians had been killed.
The prison holds thousands of men who were arrested by the Kurdish-led militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. The militia partnered with the United States and other nations to fight the Islamic State, which, at its height, ruled territory the size of Britain in Syria and Iraq.
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