Seven inmates were killed in a prison riot in southern Mexico as inmates resisting transfers to other prisons fought police with guns and knives, authorities said late Thursday.
Four police officers and six other inmates were injured in the riot in the city of Villahermosa, capital of the Gulf coast state of Tabasco.
State Police Chief Víctor Hugo Chávez said late Thursday that officers were struck by gunfire early in the day as they entered the prison to transfer two dangerous inmates to a federal prison.
One of the inmates held out for about three hours with a gun, protected by 20 fellow inmates, officials said.
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Chavez did not say whether police opened fire on the group, but said: “The authorities must also act to defend their own lives.”
Fires also broke out in the prison during the riots, and crowds of angry, desperate relatives gathered outside the prison, demanding information about family members imprisoned there.
After authorities regained control of the facility several hours later, they found an assault rifle, five pistols, a hand grenade, 23 machetes, 14 knives and 23 homemade knives.
They did not explain how the firearms ended up in the prison. Prisons in Mexico are known for their lax controls and corruption, so much so that gangs in some prisons control their own cell blocks and extort other prisoners for protection money.
Last year there was an attack on a state prison in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, Texas 17 people killedincluding 10 guards. Twenty-five inmates escaped in the attack, which authorities said was aimed at freeing the leader of a local gang.
In 2016 a A prison riot left 49 inmates hacked, beaten or burned in Topo Chico prison in Mexico.
