Five Honduran youth gang members killed in jail fight
May 2014 Last updated at 06:41 ET
Five Honduran youth gang members killed in jail fight
Five youths have been killed in a gang fight in a prison in Honduras.
Officials said the five, all of them under 18, belonged to the M18 street gang and were attacked by members of the rival Mara Salvatrucha gang.
The fight happened in El Carmen jail in San Pedro Sula.
Last year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights accused Honduras of giving up on rehabilitating criminals and leaving prisons to be controlled by their inmates.
Overcrowded and underfunded
Police said armed members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang threatened the guards and forced their way at gunpoint into the area where M18 gang members are held.
They then opened fire, killing five and injuring one. Neighbours reported hearing an explosion, but police denied grenades had been used in the gang fight.
There are conflicting reports on whether the assailants were also inmates or whether they had forced their way in from the outside.
More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27283004
