A prison riot in southeastern Mexico’s Tabasco state left seven people dead, authorities confirmed Tuesday.
The incident occurred in Villahermosa, the state’s capital, and is being investigated by the public prosecutor’s office. This is the second deadly riot in the region within a month; a similar outbreak of violence at the same facility in December also resulted in seven fatalities.
Local reports suggest that the riot stemmed from a clash between rival criminal groups inside the prison. Tabasco, a key oil-producing region, has seen a troubling rise in violent crime in recent months. Two separate gun attacks on bars in Villahermosa, one in November and the other in January, left 13 people dead.
The ongoing drug-related violence in Mexico has claimed over 480,000 lives since 2006, when the government first deployed the army to combat drug trafficking, according to official statistics.
