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News > Latin America

9 Dead in Mexico Prison Fight Near US Border

  • Riot police line up outside the prison in Acapulco, Mexico, on July 6, 2017.

    Riot police line up outside the prison in Acapulco, Mexico, on July 6, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Published 11 August 2017
Opinion

Eleven people were injured in the fight, which authorities said involved two groups fighting for control over a prison.

A prison fight in Mexico’s border city of Reynosa has left at least nine inmates dead and 11 injured, the government of Tamaulipas state said in a statement Thursday.

RELATED:
4 Dead in Mexico's Tamaulipas State Prison Riot

Authorities reported that the fight occurred earlier that day during family visiting hours. Rival groups of inmates fought with shanks, sticks and rocks in two parts of the prison, while guards fired shots to control the situation. 

Regional police officers took control of the facility and injured inmates were taken to the hospital, according to the statement.

The state security Coordination Group said the fight appeared to have involved a power struggle between two groups fighting for control within the prison.

Although it didn’t identify the groups, Reynosa has previously reported pitched battles between factions of the Gulf Cartel.

An increase in violent crime has turned 2017 into one of the bloodiest years in Mexico's modern history. The country's overcrowded prisons are plagued by riots, revenge killings and jailbreaks. 

In July, at least 28 inmates died after a riot between rival gangs at a jail in the southwestern city of Acapulco. The victims were stabbed and beaten to death, with some decapitated.

In March, 29 inmates escaped through a tunnel from a prison in Ciudad Victoria. And seven people were killed in June, including three police, when officers stormed the same prison to regain control from inmates, who had been stockpiling guns.

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