An unknown number of gunmen who were aboard armored vehicles left 14 people dead including 10 prison guards.
On Sunday a number of gunmen attacked a prison in the northern Mexico city of Ciudad Juarez. The attack left 14 people dead including 10 prison guards and security agents, the Chihuahua state prosecutors’ office said.
Four people were also injured in the attack, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The attack happened at around 7 AM, at the same time that family members of inmates were waiting to see their relatives for the holiday of the New Year.
Prior to the attack, armed men fired on municipal police along a nearby boulevard, prompting a car chase that resulted in the arrest of four men and the seizure of their vehicle, prosecutors said. But then later, more armed men in a Hummer fired on another group of security agents outside of the prison.
The purpose of the attack was allegedly to allow certain groups of prisoners to escape, said prosecutors, but the investigation is still ongoing. They added that four people were detained though they did not specify if they were inmates or assailants. Details about how the inmates were able to escape were also not made available.
The prison in Ciudad Juarez holds members of the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels, who have been fighting for years in a turf war that resulted in the deaths of more than 5,000 people. The Sinaloa cartel eventually “won” the turf war. It was reported by prosecutors that fighting within the prison around the same time of the attack also left 13 people injured.
