29 INMATES KILLED IN MEXICAN PRISON CLASHES, 25 OFFICER GUNNED DOWN IN AN AMBUSH

MEXICO CITY – At least 29 inmates were killed Monday as rival gangs clashed inside a prison in a cartel-plagued Mexican state, authorities said. Three policemen guarding the prison were wounded.
In one attack, 20 inmates were shot to death when a group of prisoners opened fire on members of a rival gang inside the prison in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, state Public Safety Secretary Josefina Garcia told Radio Formula.

• One of the three wounded police was in serious condition, Garcia said.
• The gang that initiated the attack killed 17 rivals and lost three of its own members. An inmate who was wounded died later Monday at a hospital, said Martin Gastelum, a spokesman for the Sinaloa state prosecutors' office. He didn't say which gang the prisoner belong to.
• The lockup in the Pacific coast city of Mazatlan was quickly brought under control and investigators found two pistols and an assault rifle inside, Gastelum said.
• Gastelum said the killings were all at the hands of other prisoners.
• Local media said those attacked were apparently members of the Zetas drug gang, which is battling the powerful Sinaloa cartel, but officials were unable to confirm that.
• Hours later, eight more prisoners were stabbed to death by other inmates, said state Public Safety Department spokeswoman Angeles Moreno. She said police are investigating what sparked the violence.

Meanwhile on a separate occasions, Gunmen killed 15 federal police officers Monday in separate attacks in two drug-plagued states, marking one of the bloodiest days for security forces since the government stepped up its fight with drug cartels.
Twelve officers died in an ambush near a high school in the western state of Michoacan, while assailants killed three more officers in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.
The latest in a series of mass slayings came as President Felipe Calderon defended his crackdown on traffickers in an essay on his office's website. He vowed he won't back down despite criticism that violence has only surged since he deployed thousands of troops and federal police in late 2006 seeking to crush the cartels.
Source: AP