Mexico prison attack kills 14, dozens escape



CNN

At least 14 people were killed in a brazen armed attack on a prison in the Mexican border city of Juárez on Sunday, officials said.

Ten security guards and four prisoners were killed and 13 others were wounded, the Chihuahua state attorney general’s office said in a statement.

The incident began around 7 a.m. (9 a.m. ET) Sunday when the gunman in an armored vehicle arrived at the prison and opened fire on security personnel, the prosecutor’s office said.

Authorities said the inmates took the opportunity to escape and 24 inmates escaped.

It is not yet known who was behind the attack.

Members of the Mexican army control an area outside the prison.

Relatives of the prisoners gathered outside the prison, hugging and comforting each other after learning of the events inside.

CNN has contacted the attorney general’s office for more details on the status of the investigation.

Ciudad Juarez, across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso, Texas, is one of Mexico’s deadliest cities and a center of drug cartel violence. Rival Juarez and the Sinaloa cartel have been engaged in a bloody turf war in the area for lucrative smuggling routes and drug-trading territory in the city.

Sunday’s violence is not the first time violence has erupted at the prison. Hundreds of Mexican soldiers were sent there last August after clashes between the two cartels led to riots and shootouts that left 11 dead.

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