68 killed, dozens injured in Ecuador jail’s bloody riot   

Quito: At least 68 people are now known to have died while 25 inmates sustained injuries in a bloody clash between rival gangs in Ecuador's jail—one of country's many overburdened and understaffed penitentiary. 

According to preliminary information, some 68 prisoners were killed and another 25 were wounded, the Ecuador Prosecutor’s Office wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Following fierce clashes in Ecuador’s largest city, dozens of inmates have been killed, according to authorities. 

The penitentiary, located in the southern city of Guayaquil, is the same prison where 119 inmates were killed in September in country's worst ever prison violence.

As per reports, at least six dead were reported beheaded in the riot at one of Ecuador's largest prisons.

The government has blamed disputes between drug trafficking gangs for control of prisons for the violence. 

Dozens were gathered outside the prison on Saturday afternoon waiting for news of loved ones, who many said they had not heard from since Friday afternoon.

In October, the head of the country’s prison authority announced that as many as 2,000 prisoners would be pardoned in an attempt to reduce overcrowding in its detention centres.

This year nearly 300 inmates have been killed in Ecuador’s broken prison system, where thousands of inmates tied to drug gangs square off in violent clashes that often turn into riots. 

The prison violence comes amid a national state of emergency decreed by Lasso in October that empowers security forces to fight drug trafficking and other crimes.

Ecuador has 40,000 inmates in its penitentiary system, of whom about 8,500 are in Litoral. 

Previously, the bloodiest day occurred in February, when 79 prisoners died in simultaneous riots in three prisons in the country.

In July, 22 more prisoners lost their lives in the Litoral penitentiary, while in September a penitentiary center was attacked by drones leaving no fatalities.