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Around 60 killed as drug gangs clash in Brazil prison massacre - UPDATED

Around 60 killed as drug gangs clash in Brazil prison massacre - <span style="color: red;">UPDATED

02 January 2017 19:10 (UTC +04:00)

Around 60 people were killed in a bloody prison riot in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus sparked by a war between rival drug gangs, officials said on Monday, in the worst violence in over two decades in Brazil's overcrowded penitentiary system, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The head of security for Amazonas state, Sergio Fontes, told a news conference that the death toll could rise as authorities get a clearer idea of the scale of the rebellion sparked by a fight between rival drug gangs.

Fontes told reporters that several of the dead had their decapitated bodies thrown over the prison wall - and that most of those killed came from one gang.

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20:31

The clashes broke out between the two opposing gangs in the prison of the city of Manaus, according to the O Globo newspaper, APA reports quoting sputniknews.

Sergio Fontes, head of security of the state of Amazonas, said that the death toll as a result of the riot could rise, the newspaper added.