At least two inmates died Saturday and 11 others were wounded, one of them seriously, in a clash between rival gangs at a jail in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, police officials said.
Some 50 prisoners joined in the riot that broke out before dawn Saturday in the Anibal Bruno Penitentiary in the capital of Pernambuco state.
The two fatalities died of wounds and burns suffered during the clash.
Meanwhile the injured, one of them suffering a serious bullet wound, were rushed to medical centers, according to the online edition of the daily Diario de Pernambuco.
During the battle behind bars, inmates set fire to fabrics, mattresses and gas cylinders, shots were heard and security forces fired rubber bullets to stop the fighting.
The jail’s superintendent of security, Col. Fernando Melo, said the riot broke out among inmates of rival gangs for reasons not yet determined.
