Prison riot and fire in a northern Syrian town kills at least 7
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A fire and riot broke out in a prison in a predominantly Kurdish town in northern Syria on Saturday, killing at least seven people, state media reported.
The SANA news agency said the fire started when inmates in the Kobani prison rioted over tensions that erupted in the town the previous day between Kurds and Arabs. The prison is still run by Kurdish fighters even though Syrian government forces entered the town along the border with Turkey recently.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the riots started over plans by authorities to transfer some inmates to a prison in the northern city of Aleppo.
Kobani, which had been under siege by the Islamic State group a decade ago, became a springboard for a U.S.-backed Kurdish offensive that ended with the extremists losing the last sliver of land they once held in 2019.
On Friday, riots broke out in Kobani after Kurds blamed Arabs for killing a Kurdish man. Tensions between the Kurdish minority and the central government remain high despite recent moves to bring northeast Syria under the control of the new government in Damascus.
In late August, the commander of the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced the official dissolution of the group, which once controlled a de facto autonomous zone in Syria’s northeast.