Jail riot in western El Salvador leaves 21 prisoners dead

A riot at a prison in western El Salvador left 21 inmates dead, said reports from San Salvador on Sunday.

The riot broke out late on Friday at the top-security prison in Apanteos, around 70 km west of San Salvador, as hundreds of rival gangsters battled with each other.

Mara 18 gangsters were responsible for the killing of the 21 prisoners, said the reports.

By Saturday night prison officers had quashed the mutiny, which erupted as Mara 18, one of the region's most bloodthirsty gangs, began a purge of their jailhouse rivals.

The violence may also have been spurred when Mara leaders were transferred in a bid to stop gang bosses using cellphones to mastermind crimes from behind bars, or directly commit crimes like extortion.

The convicts destroyed cell walls with sledgehammers and pickaxes, which were also used during the murders, said reports, citing Jaime Vilanova, director of the nation's prison.

Prison officers have only identified 16 of the dead, as the rest of the bodies were massively mutilated.

Jail officials have declared a 15-day state of emergency in the jail.

Official statistics show that out of a total of 9,600 gangsters nationwide in the Central American country, only 3,000 are in jail.