DHAKA: At least 16 prisoners have been killed in violence inside a jail in the western Venezuelan city of Maracaibo.

Fifteen inmates died in fights between rival gangs, Prisons Minister Iris Varela said. The other victim was killed in a separate incident.

Some of the inmates were beheaded and others dismembered, pressure group Venezuelan Prison Observatory told AFP news agency.

Prisons in the country are heavily overcrowded.

Ms Varela said all the victims identified so far were "people with some kind of negative leadership in some part of the prison".

She called for an end to the violence, which began on Monday night. "We don`t want even one more death. Enough of violence," she said.

The Sabaneta jail houses nearly 4,000 people, five times more than its capacity. It is Venezuela`s second-largest jail.

The Prison Observatory says more than 500 people die in jail violence every year in the country.

Source: BBC
BDST: 0845 HRS, SEP 18, 2013
RS/BSK