MONTERREY, Mexico, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- At least 52 people died in a battle between two rival gangs at Topo Chico jail early Thursday, just days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the country.
More than a dozen other inmates and jail personnel were injured in the brawl and subsequent fire at the facility in the northeastern Mexico state of Nuevo Leon. The Nuevo Leon state government said on Twitter it was too soon to give details, but that the disturbance was not the result of an attempted prison escape, as reported by some local media outlets.