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QUITO: Clashes between rival gangs claimed at least 10 lives in the second deadly riot in an Ecuadoran prison in days, police said Thursday.
Violence broke out in a prison in the troubled coastal city of Esmeraldas, near the Colombian border, where police said they found 10 dead prisoners in two cell blocks — adding to about 500 inmate deaths in the country since 2021.
On Monday, 13 prisoners and a guard were reported killed in southwest Ecuador, whose overcrowded and violent prisons have become operational centers for organized crime groups.