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Klaralven

(7,510 posts)
Thu Sep 30, 2021, 10:48 PM Sep 2021

Police battle for control of Ecuador prison after riot carnage

Hundreds of police battled Thursday for control of an Ecuador prison where rioting left at least 116 inmates dead, some on them decapitated, as rival drug gangs went to war armed with guns and grenades.

Another 80 prisoners were wounded, according to Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso, in one of the most deadly prison battles in South American history.

The riot broke out Tuesday at a prison complex in the port city of Guayaquil between prisoners believed to have links to Mexican drug gangs -- mainly the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

The police service tweeted Thursday that about 400 police officers were engaged in an operation to restore order "and guarantee security in the prison complex."

On Wednesday, at least two officers were injured when rioting inmates, armed with guns, attacked police sent in to retake control of the facility.

Soldiers and tanks are also stationed outside the jail, where hundreds of worried family members have gathered, desperate for news from the men locked up inside.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210930-police-battle-for-control-of-ecuador-prison-after-riot-carnage

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