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Prison riot in Mexico border city kills 19

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-18 18:38

MEXICO CITY -- Nineteen prisoners were killed and a dozen wounded in the second riot in less than a week at a jail in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, local officials said on Thursday.

Prisoners on a roof throw stones during a riot at La Mesa jail in Tijuana in Mexico's state of Baja California September 17, 2008. Police said they have quelled a second riot in three days at the state jail in Tijuana. [Agencies]

"Up to the last count, there are 19 dead and 12 wounded," Daniel de la Rosa, Baja California's state police chief, said in a televised news conference following the riot on Wednesday at one of Tijuana's main jails.

Authorities have regained control of the prison and transferred 200 dangerous inmates to other facilities, Baja California Gov. Jose Osuna said at the news conference.

On Sunday, four prisoners were killed and a large part of the same jail destroyed in a clash between guards and inmates.

Family members of inmates housed in the overcrowded jail had complained of prisoner abuse and local media said the death of an inmate could have sparked the violence.

Tijuana, just south of San Diego, is a major corridor for drug trafficking and has seen violence soar in recent months even as President Felipe Calderon deployed thousands of troops to the city and across the country to crack down on warring cartels.

More than 2,700 people have been killed in drug violence this year in Mexico.

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