At least 25 men, mostly inmates, were injured when a riot erupted followed by clashes between warders and prisoners in the south Egyptian city of Assiut on Monday, following the reportedly suspicious death of a fellow prisoner, a security official said. The death of the prisoner, named by the Interior Ministry as Ali Mohamed Mohamed Abdel Salam, in a fight with two inmates led to uproar among the other prisoners, who took three officers hostage and seized their weapons, Egyptian police sources added.
Clashes continued inside the prison building for several hours. Police used tear gas and live ammunition to subdue the prisoners and were able to restore control, the sources added. The injured included 21 prisoners and four warders.
Police sources said earlier that the clashes began when a group of armed men attacked the prison from outside and managed to take weapons into the building, apparently as part of an attempt to free prisoners.
But the Interior Ministry said in a statement the incident began with a brawl between four prisoners armed with table cutlery. Police intervened to separate them and decided to punish them with 48 hours in solitary confinement. "A rumor spread among the prisoners that Abdel Salam died because an officer assaulted him," it said.
Security forces now have complete control of one of the prison's two wings and are gradually retaking the other one, the sources said.
Assiut is the largest Egyptian city south of Cairo, with about 400,000 people. It lies on the Nile about 300 km (180 miles) south of the capital.