95 captives escape IS-run prison in northern SyriaMarch 10, 2015 - 15:16 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - About 95 captives, including Kurdish fighters, escaped from an Islamic State-run prison in northern Syria but most have been recaptured, a monitoring group said on Tuesday, March 10, according to Reuters. The jailbreak took place in the town of al-Bab, 30 km (20 miles) south of the Turkish frontier, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State controls tracts of territory across northern Syria and runs its own prisons, courts and other facilities in what it describes as an Islamic caliphate extending into Iraq. The escapees included Syrian civilians, about 30 Kurdish fighters, and members of Islamic battalions opposed to the more hardline Islamic State, the Observatory said. Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led air strikes have been trying to drive back Islamic State across northern Syria. Islamic State has put the town on high alert and has been using loudspeakers to tell citizens to capture the escapees, the Observatory said, citing people on the ground. About two thirds have since been caught. "They have set up new checkpoints and have been searching houses," the Observatory's head Rami Abdulrahman said. Islamic State was still in control of the town, which lies northeast of the city of Aleppo. "But it shows some weakness when a big number of prisoners escapes," he said. Islamic State combatants fought each other over the weekend in al-Bab when several of its members broke out of another jail in the town and tried to head for the Turkish border. Since that breakout, Islamic State had moved people to the new, smaller prison which was the site of the latest escape. The group which escaped over the weekend included mainly European fighters and was stopped by other Islamic State members in clashes that killed at least nine, the Observatory said. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |