UN: Syria prison attack shows need to deal with IS detainees

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The UN counter-terrorism chief says the attack by Islamic State militants on a Syrian prison holding around 3,000 of its fighters and about 700 children is a predictable tragedy spotlighting the need for urgent international action to deal with those allegedly linked to the extremist group in prisons and camps in the country’s northeast. Vladimir Voronkov told the U.N. Security Council Thursday that the Islamic State group “has been highlighting and calling for jail breaks.”  He said most men, women and children allegedly linked to IS “have never been charged with a crime yet remain in prolonged detention.”