Dozens Killed In Mexico Prison Drug Gang Fight

Dozens of inmates have died in a fight between two rival factions at a prison in northern Mexico.

Jaime Rodriguez, the governor of Nuevo Leon state, confirmed that 52 prisoners had been killed and 12 injured at Topo Chico near the city of Monterrey.

Riot police and ambulances were deployed to the scene following reports of gunshots and a fire at the facility.

"There were no reported escapes and the battle, which sent flames billowing into the pre-dawn sky, didn't involve guns," Mr Rodriguez said.

The fight involved a faction led by a member of the infamous Zetas drug cartel, Juan Pedro Zaldivar Farias, also known as Z-27.

He said the Zetas once nearly controlled the area around Monterrey.

Zaldivar Farias was a suspect in the 2010 shooting death of American David Hartley on Texas' Falcon Lake.

He was reportedly shot while touring the lake with his wife on Jet Skis.

The fight at Topo Chico was between supporters of Zaldivar Farias and Jorge Ivan Hernandez Cantu, who has been identified by local news media as a member of the rival Gulf drug cartel, Mr Rodriguez explained.

He also said that inmates had set fire to a storage area, which caused the thick cloud of smoke.

It comes just days ahead of a planned visit by Pope Francis to another prison nearby, in Mexico's far north.

The incident is the latest in a series of deadly riots in the country's overpopulated prisons, which often house inmates from different drug gangs.