Brasilia (April 11, 2018): According to the international media, at least 21 people died on Tuesday in an attempted breakout from a prison in northern Brazil aided by an armed group on the outside trying to blow up a wall, officials said.
The Para state security service described the mass escape attempt at the Santa Izabel Penitentiary Complex, near the Amazon rainforest city of Belem in Para state, as a military style battle in which both prisoners inside and associates on the outside were armed.
“The attempt was supported by an extremely heavily armed group. According to preliminary reports, the prisoners also had weapons inside the prison,” the statement said.
Prison guards fought back in “an intense exchange of gunfire,” it said.
The confirmed dead so far included 19 prisoners and outside attackers, and one guard. Another four guards were injured, including one seriously, the statement said.
Brazil is one of the world s most deadly countries, with around 60,000 homicides a year, and the prisons are notoriously overcrowded and violent.
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