13 inmates killed in fresh fight in Ecuador prison

Thirteeninmateswerekilledand two others injured on Monday in yet another bloodyfightin a notorious Ecuadoranprison, law enforcementofficialssaid.

"Unfortunately, central command reports 13 (inmates) dead and two injured," the South American country'sprisonauthority SNAI said on Twitter.

The incident took place at the same Bellavistaprisonin the town of Santo Domingo de los Colorados, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Quito, where 44inmateswerekilledin a bloody brawl in May.

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Prisonofficials, aided by the military and the police, were able to regain control of the facility, SNAI said.

Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo later told a press conference that current information indicated "most" of the victims were Venezuelan.

Local media reported that some prisoners were decapitated or dismembered during thefight.

"Relatives of theinmateswaited anxiously outside theprison, as images of dismembered bodies reached their cell phones and they remained undaunted by the entry of ambulances," read a story in the national newspaper El Universo.

Carrillo said that the "primitive act of barbarism" indicated the "psychological profile" of theinmateswho took part in the brawl.

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"So far, 13 bodies have been recovered and a total inspection is being carried out inside theprison," he said, adding it was "quite probable" more bodies would be found.

Some 220inmatesescaped from theprisonduring the May riot, but most of them have been recaptured.

Viciousprisonriots are common in prisons inEcuador, where drug gangs are vying for control of trafficking routes.

Those rivalries sometimes explode into grisly violence behind bars, with someinmateshacked to death or beheaded with machetes.

Nestled between the world's biggest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru,Ecuadorhas seen a surge of violence blamed on fighting between rival drug groups.

The country of 17.7 million people is popular with traffickers because of its porous borders, dollarized economy and major seaports for export.

Prisons are overcrowded and short on guards, and rampant corruption meansinmatescan lay their hands on all sorts of contraband, including firearms and explosives.

Since February 2021, there have been nearly a dozenprisonmassacres in the country, some of which have become among the worst in Latin America, with some 400inmateskilled.

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