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Ghwayran prison: Fighting rages for third day between ISIS and Kurdish forces
The Asharq Al-Awsat reported a monitor said, fighting raged for a third day Saturday between ISIS and Kurdish forces in Syria after the militant group attacked a prison housing extremists, in violence that has claimed over 70 lives.
It said that the assault on the Ghwayran prison in the northern city of Hasakeh is one of ISIS’s most significant since its "caliphate" was declared defeated in Syria nearly three years ago.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said: "At least 28 members of the Kurdish security forces, five civilians and 45 members of ISIS have been killed" in the violence.
The Observatory said that ISIS launched the attack on Thursday night against the prison housing some 3,500 suspected members of the militant group, including some of its leaders.
The Britain-based monitor said that the extremists "seized weapons they found" in the detention center.
he Observatory said that hundreds of militant inmates had since been recaptured but dozens were still believed to be on the loose.
Daesh gunmen kill 11 Iraqi soldiers in mountainous area north of Baghdad
It added that the prison was surrounded by Kurdish forces with the support of the international coalition.
"Fighting is taking place on the northern side of the prison," Farhad Shami, spokesman for the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said, calling the situation "exceptional".
The extremist group said in a statement released on Friday by its Amaq news agency that its attack on the jail aimed to "free the prisoners".
Daesh attacks Ghwayran prison in Syria and frees extremists
It was not immediately clear Friday whether the prison break was part of a centrally coordinated operation -- timed to coincide with an attack on a military base in Iraq -- or the action of a local ISIS cell.
Source: aawsat
