•United States Customs and Border Protection officers
A prison riot left seven people dead in a Mexican state grappling with rising criminal violence, authorities said yesterday.
The public prosecutor’s office announced an investigation into the incident in Villahermosa, the capital of southeastern Tabasco state, where a prison riot in December also claimed seven lives, reports AFP.
According to local media, rival criminal groups were believed to have clashed in the jail.
Tabasco, home to oil production facilities, has seen an increase in violent crime in recent months.
Two gun attacks on bars in Villahermosa in November and January left a total of 13 people dead.
Drug-related violence has seen more than 480,000 people killed in Mexico since the government deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.
