LONDON: Three Muslim inmates assaulted two prison officers and held one of them hostage at a prison in Yorkshire, north-east England, last week, police disclosed on Tuesday.

The attack took place at Full Sutton prison on Sunday, amid heightened tensions following the murder of the British soldier Lee Rigby, who was stabbed to death in the street in London’s Woolwich area last Wednesday.

Neither the police nor the justice ministry would comment on the motive for the attack. None of the inmates involved were serving time for terrorism-related offences. Two of them are aged 25 and the other is 26. Neither of the staff who suffered injuries were former military men.

The incident began late in the afternoon when a prison officer was taken hostage. Another officer, a woman, attempted to help him and received cuts to her arm in the process. “The officer taken hostage suffered a broken cheekbone and a number of wounds to his face and neck at the beginning of the incident. Both members were treated in hospital for their injuries,” a police spokesman said.

“The police’s counter-terrorism unit is investigating this incident and the motives behind it. This was a serious incident and my first thought is with the officer who was taken hostage — we will do all we can to help him recover from this experience. I want to commend all staff involved for their great courage and professionalism.”

Newspaper reports had claimed incorrectly on Tuesday that the ringleader of the attack was Parviz Khan, an Islamist, who is serving a life sentence for plotting to behead a British soldier, but the justice ministry denied this was the case.

By arrangement with The Guardian