7 dead in Mexico prison riot

By Nancy Caouette

MEXICO CITY

At least seven people were killed and 13 others injured in a riot at a prison in Ciudad Victoria along the U.S. border, authorities said Wednesday.

Four police officers are among the dead and six others were injured, the Security Department of Tamaulipas wrote on Twitter.

Gunfire was heard late Tuesday and early Wednesday at the prison in the capital of the violent Tamaulipas state.

“Authorities detected a few days ago that there was rising tensions between groups of inmates and that detainees were bringing in arms,” Luis Alberto Rodríguez, spokesman for the Security Department of Tamaulipas, said in an interview with a local television station.

Rodriguez said police entered the prison late Tuesday but some inmates were armed, leading to clashes.

Inmates commonly have access to guns in the prison of Ciudad Victoria.

The northern state of Tamaulipas is infamous as one of the most strategic territories for drug trafficking between Mexico and the U.S.

The Gulf and Zetas drug cartels have fought for years for control of the state, leading to an explosion in the crime rate there.

In March, 29 inmates escaped after a clash that killed three and wounded one.

Eighteen inmates have been since captured but 11 remain on the loose.