- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
- Sales of US existing homes slip slightly in August
- Fear, panic haunt Lebanese after devices explode
- Labuschagne sparks Australia fightback in England ODI opener
- S.Africa's HIV research power couple says fight goes on
- Why is Israel focusing on border with Lebanon?
- Mpox vaccines administered in Rwanda, first in Africa
- US Fed rate cut is 'very positive sign' for economy: Yellen
- Unknown Mozart string trio discovered in Germany
- 'Are we five-year-olds?' F1 drivers won't mind their language
- Brazil judge orders X to reimpose block or face hefty fine
- Munich to rename stadium street after Beckenbauer
- Champions Italy to face Argentina in Davis Cup Final 8
- The winding, fitful path to weight loss drug Ozempic
- Italians defeat American Magic to reach Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Norris has 'nothing to lose' as he hunts Verstappen in Singapore
- Kyiv 'outraged' at Swiss showing of Russian war film
- French city renames Abbe Pierre square after abuse claims
- Footballer charged after huge cannabis seizure at UK airport
- Vatican recognises Medjugorje shrine, but not Virgin's messages
- Israel bombs Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon after wave of deadly blasts
- Bank of England freezes rate after jumbo US cut
- Playing Nadal is 'kind of a nightmare', says Alcaraz
- Portugal tackles last of deadly northern forest fires
- Ton-up Ashwin lifts India to 339-6 against Bangladesh
- Departing NATO chief warns US against 'isolationism'
- Coming winter 'sternest test yet' for Ukraine energy grid
- Evacuations as tail of Storm Boris floods northeast Italy
- Lebanon's Hezbollah reeling after second wave of deadly blasts
- Taiwan recognises same-sex marriages between Chinese, Taiwanese
- Stock markets rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Gabon's ousted leader Bongo says renouncing politics for good
- Lebanon device blasts: what we know about deadly attacks
- Equity markets rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Late Harrods owner Al-Fayed accused of rape: BBC
- Hong Kong man sentenced 14 months for wearing 'seditious' T-shirt
- Lebanon's Hezbollah in disarray after second wave of deadly blasts
- Equity markets, yen rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Meta and Spotify blast EU decisions on AI
- Hasan takes three as Bangladesh rattle India in first Test
- Two killed during police operation in New Caledonia
- Flood-hit region leaders to meet in Poland to discuss EU aid
- Sri Lanka to vote in first poll since economic collapse
- Hong Kong probe finds Cathay Airbus defect could cause 'extensive' damage
- AI development cannot be left to market whim, UN experts warn
- All Blacks primed for 'hell' of a Wallabies clash
- Japan firm says no longer makes radio reportedly used in Lebanon blasts
- Zoom fatigue? Try some nature in your background: study
IS attacks Syria prison, freeing jihadists: monitor
The Islamic State group attacked a Kurdish-run jail in northeast Syria on Thursday, freeing fellow jihadists, a war monitor reported without specifying how many escaped.
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed the rare attack in a statement but did not mention any prisoners fleeing.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a car bomb hit the entrance of the Ghwayran prison and a second blast went off in the vicinity before IS jihadists attacked Kurdish security forces manning the facility.
"A number of prisoners managed to escape," said the Observatory which relies on a network of sources inside Syria. It did not specify how they managed to break out.
Ghwayran is one of the largest facilities housing IS fighters in a semi-autonomous region controlled by Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria, Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP.
"A new insurgence and attempted escape by Daesh terrorists detained in Ghwayran prison in al-Hasaka in conjunction with an explosion of a car bomb," the Syrian Democratic Forces statement said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
It blamed the attack on "Daesh sleeper cells, who infiltrated from the surrounding neighbourhoods and clashed with the Internal Security Forces."
The Observatory said the SDF has dispatched reinforcements to the prison and cordoned off the area.
Aircraft belonging to the US-led international coalition battling IS hovered over the facility and dropped flares in its vicinity, the monitor added.
- 'Intermittent clashes' -
The coalition was not immediately available for comment.
In a later statement, SDF spokesperson Ferhad Sahmi said that "the situation inside the prison is now under control."
"There are intermittent clashes with IS fighters hiding in the vicinity of the prison," he told AFP.
According to Kurdish authorities, more than 50 nationalities are represented in a number of Kurdish-run prisons where more than 12,000 IS suspects are now held.
From France to Tunisia, many of the IS prisoners' countries of origins have been reluctant to repatriate them, fearing a public backlash at home.
Relatives of jihadists, including children, are kept in Kurdish-controlled camps in Syria's northeast, the largest of which is Al-Hol with around 56,000 displaced people and refugees.
The IS group's self-declared caliphate, established from 2014, once stretched across vast parts of Syria and Iraq and administered millions of inhabitants.
A long and deadly military fightback led by Syrian and Iraqi forces with backing from the United States and other powers eventually defeated the jihadist proto-state in March 2019.
The remnants of IS mostly went back to their desert hideouts from which they continue to harass Syrian government and allied forces.
Earlier this month, IS fighters shot dead an aid worker with the Kurdish Red Crescent at the Al-Hol camp.
Last week, an IS attack near Syria's border with Iraq killed five Syrian pro-regime fighters and wounded 14 others, according to the Observatory.
B.Shevchenko--BTB