Mexican officials: 2 police officers dead, 1 hurt in prison disturbance

Two police officers were killed and one wounded in a prison disturbance Tuesday in a northern Mexican border state, authorities reported.

The Twitter account of the Tamaulipas state security spokesman said a police and military operation was launched to contain the unrest in the state capital, Ciudad Victoria.

It reported unspecified detonations inside the prison and said the operation aimed to recover “order, control and legality.”

Photos it released from a helicopter overflight showed the prison surrounded by security agents and what appeared to be white smoke rising from one building. Video broadcast by the Milenio TV news channel contained a sustained staccato of what sounded like gunfire.

Authorities closed nearby roads, and surrounding areas were under an evacuation alert.

Uprisings are relatively common at Mexican prisons, where inmates are often in de facto control of their own environments.

Tamaulipas, a Gulf coast state bordering Texas, has seen high levels of violence in recent years as rival drug gangs and factions battle for control.