Police in Brazil say 26 people were killed in a prison in the city of Natal during shocking violence that broke out overnight.

The clashes between rival gangs was brought under control early on Sunday after police stormed the prison.

Forensic experts said most victims had been decapitated or mutilated. </s> NATAL, Brazil — Brazilian police say they have interrogated five inmates they believe were responsible for 26 killings during a prison riot this month.

The civil police say in a statement issued Sunday that the men were gang leaders and have been removed from the Alcacuz prison, where violence broke out just over a week ago.

Military police were only able to restore some semblance of control at Alcacuz on Saturday, and they are now separating rival gangs within the prison by building a wall of shipping containers.

At least 126 people have been killed in a spate of prison violence since the beginning of the year in Brazil. The fighting is typically between rival gangs. </s> At least 52 people have been killed in a prison riot in Brazil which saw rival gangs battle for five hours, officials say.

Gang members from one prison block invaded another part of Altamira jail in Pará state, local media reported.

Officials giving a news conference said 16 of the dead were decapitated. Other reports said part of the prison was set on fire, suffocating many.

Two prison officers who were taken hostage have since been freed.

The violence began at around 07:00 local time (10:00 GMT), and ended at around noon, officials said.

Video reported to be from the prison carried by Brazilian media showed smoke billowing from at least one prison building, while another clip appeared to show inmates walking around on the rooftops.

The two rival gangs involved have not been named by authorities.

Violence in Brazilian prisons is not uncommon. The country has the world’s third-largest prison population of some 700,000 people, and overcrowding is a widespread problem.

Clashes between rival gangs are frequent, as are riots.

In May, 40 people were killed on the same day in four different prisons in Manaus in Amazonas state – a day after 15 died in prison fights in the area. </s> Inmates from rival gangs battled at a prison in Brazil's Goias state today, leaving nine dead and 14 injured, authorities told the Brazilian news site G1.

Officials said the violence at the Colonia Agroindustrial prison in the Aparecida de Goiania Complex apparently erupted when inmates from one cellblock invaded three others where prisoners from rival gangs are housed.

The attackers set mattresses on fire when they entered the neighbouring corridors and burned the bodies of those who were killed, authorities said.

 

 Firefighters were able to contain the fire.

Authorities confirmed the number of dead, but said identifications had not yet been made, G1 reported.

Local media said about 106 inmates escaped during the riot, and officials had recaptured 29. The reports said 127 other inmates fled during the violence but returned voluntarily.

Officers from the Special Penitentiary Operations Group regained control of the prison with the support of military police about two hours after the riot started.

Exactly one year ago, a prison riot at the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex in Amazonas state caused 56 deaths.

 

 A day later, four prisoners were killed at the Puraqueuqara Prison Unit in the same state. Thirty-three more inmates died January 6 in a riot at a prison in Roraima state, and 26 were killed January 14 when inmates rebelled at Alcacuz prison in Rio Grande do Norte. </s> At least 52 inmates were killed, many of them beheaded, in a prison riot in northern Brazil on Monday as rival gangs fought each other, local authorities have said. </s> At least 33 inmates were killed by their rivals at a prison in northern Brazil on Friday, days after a riot by warring gangs left dozens more dead at another prison, officials said.

The government of Roraima state said the situation at PAMC (Agricola de Monte Cristo prison) was now “under control.”

The latest violence did not appear to be an all-out riot but rather a rapid early morning attack by one group of inmates against another, lasting less than an hour, a local government spokeswoman told AFP.

Most of the killings were carried out with knives, she said. No firearms have been found inside the prison so far.

In October, 10 inmates were killed at the same prison during clashes between rival drug gangs.

The prison holds inmates from the Red Command, a powerful drug gang based in Rio de Janeiro.

It is allied with a local gang called the Family of the North.

That is the group authorities say was responsible for the grisly riot in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, where jailed gang members beheaded and mutilated 56 of their rivals in a 17-hour bloodbath Sunday and Monday.

Most of those killed in Manaus were members of a rival gang, the Sao Paulo-based First Capital Command.

The latest unrest comes a day after President Michel Temer announced the federal government would spend $250 million to build at least one prison in each of Brazil’s 26 states to deal with chronic overcrowding blamed for a string of deadly riots.

Rights activists have long condemned prison conditions in Brazil, where the justice ministry says 50 percent more capacity is needed to handle an inmate population swollen by efforts to crack down on a violent and lucrative drug trade. </s> NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Riot police are entering a prison in northeastern Brazil where 26 inmates were killed recently, in an attempt to separate rival gangs inside the complex.

A helicopter flew overhead Saturday as an armored vehicle and about 40 police forces including riot police entered the Alcacuz prison complex, which has been in control of the prisoners for several days. Authorities plan to erect a barrier of shipping containers to keep the gangs apart. Gang fighting in prisons in Brazil has left at least 126 dead in recent weeks.

The violence at Alcacuz has also spilled over to the nearby city of Natal, where buses have been burned in recent days. The governor Rio Grande do Norte state has asked the army for help retaking the prison and in patrolling Natal. </s> At least 52 prisoners have been killed - with 16 of them beheaded - in a riot in northern Brazil which saw rival gangs battle for five hours.

Two rival factions have been blamed for starting the troubles, with one group breaking into a part of the Altamira prison housing the other group, locking the room and setting fire to it.

Prison officials said 16 of the victims were beheaded while others were asphyxiated as parts of the jail were set on fire.

Video from the scene appeared to show prisoners kicking the heads of the decapitated prisoners, but the footage has not been independently verified.

Two prison officers who were taken hostage have been freed.

The violence began at around 7am and ended at around noon, officials said.

Video reported to be from the prison carried by Brazilian media showed smoke billowing from at least one prison building, while another clip appeared to show inmates walking around on the rooftops.

Authorities have not named the two rival gangs involved.

The prison in Altamira where the violence broke out has a capacity of 200 but was occupied by 311 prisoners.

The killings mirrored those of 55 inmates who died in a series of riots in May in several prisons in the neighbouring state of Amazonas.

In early 2017, more than 120 inmates died in prisons across several northern states when rival gangs clashed over control of drug-trafficking routes in the region. </s> At least 52 inmates died, 16 of whom were decapitated, in a prison riot that broke out on Monday morning in the northern Brazilian state of Para - the latest in a series of deadly clashes.

Authorities said the riot involved rival criminal gangs who took at least two penitentiary officers hostage as they battled one another.

As Brazil’s incarcerated population has surged eight-fold in three decades to around 750,000 inmates - the world’s third-highest tally - its prison gangs have come to wield vast power that reaches far beyond prison walls.

Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has said he wants to impose tighter controls in the country's prisons, as well as building many more of them.

Bolsonaro's ability to curtail violence, however, may be limited as most prisons are controlled at the state level.

In January 2017, nearly 150 prisoners died during three weeks of violence across several Brazilian prisons as local gangs backed by Brazil's two largest drug factions attacked one another.

In May, at least 15 inmates were found dead, choked to death or stabbed with toothbrushes, in the city of Manaus.
At least 10 people are killed in a prison riot between rival gangs in Natal, Brazil.