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Mexico jail riot 'leaves 21 dead' | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
A riot has broken out at a prison in Mexico, leaving at least 21 inmates dead, officials have said. | |
Rival jail gangs attacked each other with knives and guns while setting fire to a part of the prison in Tamaulipas state close to the US border. | |
Heavily armed police were brought in and the fire was put out at the Reynosa jail, which holds about 2,000 inmates. | |
Mexico has seen a number of prison riots in recent months, including one at Tijuana that left more than 20 dead. | Mexico has seen a number of prison riots in recent months, including one at Tijuana that left more than 20 dead. |
Correspondents say increasing numbers of drug gang members are being put in Mexican prisons but they are continuing their rivalries once they are on the inside. | |
The Reynosa riot started in the early hours of Monday. | |
Rival gang members fought for about three hours, setting fire to a part of the prison with matches and petrol taken from jail workshops, said the prison director, Apolonio Villarreal, quoted by Reuters news agency. | |
A spokesman for the local state attorney-general's office said: "There was a shootout and then a fire. There are charred bodies among the dead." |