17 inmates killed in El Salvador riot

A riot that broke out at an overcrowded maximum-security prison in western El Salvador left at least 17 inmates dead, officials said Saturday.

The riot was sparked late Friday at the prison in Apanteos, 40 miles west of San Salvador, when a jailed gang member got into an argument with a guard as inmates were going into their cells to go to sleep.

The prisoner grabbed the guard and other inmates around them began fighting and tearing down the prison's flimsy interior walls.

The guards then fled as hundreds of prisoners battled each other. It was not immediately clear whether the fighting prisoners were armed or how the 17 were killed.

Deputy police director Luis Tobar Prieto said officials had regained control and all those killed were prisoners. Several people were injured in the melee, although none seriously, he said.

The prison, with a listed capacity of 1,800 people, houses more than 2,000 prisoners, many considered to be the most dangerous in the country. Police buses carried dozens of prisoners to the Santa Ana prison on Saturday, an effort to ease overcrowding and separate rowdy prisoners.

Central American jails have long struggled with overcrowding and deadly riots that are often sparked by fights between rival gangs.

Overcrowding is fueled in part by a regional gang crackdown that has filled prisons with rival groups.

In Guatemala, a gang was blamed for initiating riots that left 35 inmates dead in 2005. In El Salvador, 31 inmates were killed in 2004 during a battle between gang and non-gang prisoners. And a rash of violence in Honduran prisons killed more than 180 prisoners in 2004-2005.