At Least 28 Killed in Mexico Prison Fight: Official

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – At least 28 inmates were killed when a brutal fight broke out in a prison in the Mexican Pacific resort of Acapulco on Thursday, one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the country’s troubled penal system in recent years.

Acapulco is the biggest city in Guerrero, one of Mexico’s most lawless states and a center of opium poppy production that has been a major concern to US officials.

The prison carnage was particularly embarrassing to Mexico as it came the same day US Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was visiting Guerrero, in Mexico’s southwest, Reuters reported.

Guerrero state security official Roberto Alvarez told reporters the fight broke out between rival gangs in the maximum-security wing of the prison. In addition to 28 dead, three people were injured, he said.

Authorities found bodies throughout the wing, inside and outside the kitchen, as well as the area for conjugal visits, he said. A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters four of the dead were decapitated.

Alvarez told Reuters the prison was close to 30 percent over capacity. It was built for 1,624 inmates but had 1,951 men and 110 women behind its walls, he said.

Despite reports of gunfire in the prison, all the casualties were due to wounds from sharp instruments, such as the improvised weapons that are fashioned by inmates, Alvarez said.