RIO DE JANEIRO: Rioting inmates beheaded their rivals and bodies were burned in an explosion of violence in two Brazilian jails that left at least 18 people dead on Monday, authorities said.

Prisoners also took women visitors hostage, a regional official told Brazilian television.

It was the latest eruption of gruesome violence to hit the country’s underfunded and overcrowded prison system.

The clash between two rival factions in a prison in the far northern state of Roraima killed 10 on Sunday, regional government media spokeswoman Jessica Laurie said.

“The inmates were armed with stones and pieces of wood that they ripped from the walls. They used those bits of wood to decapitate their rivals. It was very brutal,” she said.

Published in Dawn October 18th, 2016