Lahore, July 25: Prisoners rioted at a jail in eastern Pakistan today, taking nine judges and as many as 50 together prisoners hostage, police official Malik Iqbal said.
The judges were taken hostage while inspecting the jail in Sialkot, about 100 km northeast of Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province.

The rioting prisoners had weapons, although Iqbal said it was not known how they came to possess them. An hour after taking the judges hostage, they released four.

''Through the freed judges they let us known they released four," Iqbal said. ''they are demanding two small buses and more weapons.'' It wasn't immediately clear how many prisoners were involved in the hostage taking at the jail, which is occupied by both men and women.

Iqbal said the 50 prisoners who were being held hostage are all women. The rioting prisoners are men, he said.
Police had the jail surrounded.
Bureau Report