At Least 52 Dead In Brazil Prison Riot: Official

At least 52 inmates were killed in a prison riot in northern Brazil on Monday as rival gang factions fought each other, an official said

Rio de Janeiro, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Jul, 2019 ) :At least 52 inmates were killed in a prison riot in northern Brazil on Monday as rival gang factions fought each other, an official said.

Sixteen of the dead were decapitated in the second major eruption of violence to rock the country's severely overpopulated and deadly prison system in as many months.

Fighting broke out in the Altamira Regional Recovery Center at around 7:00 am (1000 GMT), an official from the Para state government's penitentiary department told AFP.

Two guards were taken hostage during the clashes that ended at around midday.

They were eventually freed.

Footage broadcast by SBT Altamira purportedly showed thick black smoke rising from the prison compound and people sitting on the roof of a building.

In May, at least 55 prisoners were killed in several jails in the neighboring state of Amazonas in violence also blamed on an apparent gang dispute.

Most of the victims were killed by asphyxiation, the state government said at the time.

The Federal government dispatched reinforcements to boost security in the jails.