17 Dead in Prison Break Attempt in Durango, Mexico

Eleven inmates and seven guards have lost their lives in a Mexico prison, as guards were trying a mass escape attempt.

According to the Inquisitr, the incident happened at the Cesero No. 2 facility in Gomez Palacio, in the state of Durango.

The casualties have resulted from a shootout between guards and inmates, as officers walked in on prisoners trying to climb the back prison walls.

They reportedly fired a few warning shots into the air; however, the prisoners were, themselves, armed. They opened fire on the guards, some aiming for the watchtowers.

“The inmates started firing guns into the watchtowers and into custodian areas,” a spokesman says in a statement.

Police attribute the shooting to drug cartel members trying to escape. Local police describe that the two gangs fighting turf wars in Durango are largely represented in the Cesero prison ward. The Sinaloas and the Zetas are battling it out to control the traffic in the state.

Prison guards ultimately managed to stop the “massive prison escape.” In September, we reported about a successful jail break, in which 132 men exited the Piedras Negras state prison, in Coahuila. They used a 21-feet (6.4-m) long tunnel to crawl out of Piedras Negras, near the border with Mexico.

The prisoners represented a fifth of the total jail population of 730. The Zetas and their rivals, the Sinaloas, along with allies Gulf Cartel were also involved. The Zetas often stage riots in jail to ensure their members breaking out.

Last week, officials in Yuma, Arizona came across a different way in which Mexican gangs smuggled drugs across the U.S. border. They found 30 cans of marijuana, which were most likely catapulted to the States using a pneumatic-powered cannon. A carbon dioxide tank was also recovered at the scene.