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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Chiara Fiorillo

New Year's prison break leaves 14 dead and 13 injured after gunmen attack jail

A total of 14 people, including 10 guards, were killed and at least 24 inmates escaped when gunmen attacked a Mexican jail on New Year's Day.

The prison in Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican city on the Rio Grande, just south of El Paso, Texas, was under attack in the early hours of Sunday on the first day of 2023.

Gunmen aboard armoured vehicles arrived at Cereso No.3 state prison and started shooting at around 7am, officials said.

According to the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office, 13 people were left wounded in addition to the 14 deaths.

Shortly before the attack, armed men fired on municipal police along a nearby boulevard, prompting a car chase that ended with the seizure of a vehicle and four men.

The Chihuahua state prosecutor's office said 14 people died and 13 were injured (ABC 7)

The prosecutor's office added in a statement that assailants in a Hummer later fired on another group of agents outside the prison.

Four people were detained but it is not clear whether they were inmates or armed assailants.

Mexican soldiers and state police were deployed after the breakout, El Paso Times reports.

Just before midday, state police officers, as well as Mexican army and National Guard troops regained control of the prison.

Armed assailants arrived at the prison at around 7am (ABC 7)

An investigation into the attack continues and authorities are on "maximum alert", according to reports.

In August, a riot between two rival Mexican cartels at the prison left 11 people dead, most of them innocent civilians.

Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejia said that two inmates were shot dead and 20 were injured.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said: "They attacked the civilian, innocent population like a sort of revenge.

Authorities are investigating the incident (ABC 7)

"It wasn't just the clash between two groups, but it got to the point in which they began to shoot civilians, innocent people. That is the most unfortunate thing in this affair."

The Cereso state prison is considered to be one of Latin America's most dangerous institutions.

A riot in 2009 left 20 people dead and 17 were killed in another attack in 2011.

At least 24 inmates escaped from the prison, officials said (ABC 7)

Government officials said the prison is known to be run by members of an organised crime group known as the Mexicles - a Ciudad Juárez street gang allied to the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal group based in Sinaloa.

In February 2022, a report by the State Human Rights Commission said there were 3,700 detainees at the prison - above its maximum capacity of 3,135.

In 2016, Pope Francis visited the prison and officiated mass in front of 700 prisoners and their families.

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