Islamic State (ISIS) prisoners at a Russian penal colony have staged a bloody mutiny, resulting in the death of several prison guards, British daily Express report.

The report says “several hostages have also been taken by the ISIS rebels.”

The attackers allegedly identified themselves as ISIS members and launched their mutiny at the IK-19 prison during a meeting of the disciplinary commission. The daily added that the penal colony is located in the Surovikinsky district of the Volgograd region, 150 kilometres from the city of Volgograd. At least three guards are believed to have been killed, and seven seriously injured.

NBS News said in its report, “Four knife-wielding prisoners claiming to be Islamic State group militants launched a deadly attack in a penal colony in southern Russia on Friday before being killed and their hostages released, officials said.

“The attack left four people dead, while the four hostage-taking prisoners were “neutralised” by snipers, Russian officials said. The attackers initially seized eight penal colony employees and four fellow inmates, according to Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service.”

The Express said the wounded have been transferred to an intensive care unit. Among them is the 45-year-old head of the prison Andrey Devyatov. A video shot in the early moments of the mutiny by the ISIS rebels shows a horrifying scene of slaughter and death.

The lifeless and bloodied bodies of what appear to be several prison guards are strewn around a room, while one of the rebels holds a hostage at knife point.

The latest reports say the ISIS rebels are demanding $2 million and a helicopter. However, the Islamist radicals have denied they have made any such demands. The hostage takers are believed to be Ramzidin Toshev, Rustamchon Navruzi, Nazirchon Toshov and Temur Khusinov.

Two of them are natives of Uzbekistan, and two more are from Tajikistan, according to local media. Security forces are currently being deployed to the scene, while a state of emergency has been declared in the penal colony.

“In connection with the emergency at IK-19 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the Volgograd Region, a group of employees from the central office of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (FSIN) immediately left for the region to conduct an inspection,” the FSIN said in a statement.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has also opened a criminal case into the taking of hostages at the penal colony.

“The criminals inflicted stab wounds of varying severity on four employees, three of whom died. Another four who resisted were hospitalized, one of whom died in hospital,” it said in a statement.

“All four convicts taken hostage were injured, the service added. The incident unfolded in IK-19, a prison based in the town of Surovikino in the southern Volgograd region. It is designated a “harsh regime” penal colony with capacity to hold up to 1,241 male prisoners,” NBS News report.

News sites with security connections published the names of up to four alleged attackers, identifying them as citizens of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. There was no official confirmation of these reports.

President Vladimir Putin said he has been informed about the “situation,” and will be meeting with his security officials to discuss it.

“The criminals were eliminated,” the region’s governor, Andrei Bocharov, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. “Unfortunately, there are people who died from the actions of criminals.”

Earlier, Bocharov said four injured employees of the colony had been hospitalized and the surrounding civilian population was in no danger.

“Every person on our territory is obliged to respect and comply with the laws of Russia,” he added. “We will not allow anyone to try to incite ethnic hatred.”

Russia, whose defense and security agencies are heavily focused on its war in Ukraine, has seen a recent upsurge in Islamist militant attacks.

In June, a bloody ISIS-linked prison uprising took place in the southern region of Rostov, where special forces shot dead six inmates who had taken hostages.

Later that month, at least 20 people were killed in shooting attacks in two cities in Dagestan, a mainly Muslim region of southern Russia.

In March, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack in which gunmen raided the Crocus City concert hall near Moscow, sprayed the audience with automatic weapons fire and set fire to the building, killing more than 140 people.

• A Tell report