Gang members in a women's prison in Honduras slaughtered 46 inmates by spraying them with gunfire, hacking them with machetes and then locking survivors in their cells and dousing them with flammable liquid, an official said Wednesday.

The carnage in Tuesday's riot was the worst atrocity at a women's prison in recent memory, something President Xiomara Castro called "monstrous."

Most victims were burned but there also were reports of inmates shot at the prison in Tamara, about 30 miles northwest of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, said Yuri Mora, spokesperson for Honduran national police's investigation agency. At least seven female inmates were being treated at a Tegucigalpa hospital for gunshot and knife wounds, employees there said.

In a message on Twitter, the president said she was "shocked by the monstrous murder of women in CEFAS, planned by gangs in full view" of security.

Conmocionada monstruoso asesinato de mujeres en CEFAS, planificado por maras a vista y paciencia de autoridades de seguridad. Mi solidaridad con familiares. Convoco a rendir cuentas al Ministro de Seguridad y la presidenta de la Comisión Interventora. ¡Tomaré medidas drásticas !

— Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (@XiomaraCastroZ) June 20, 2023

Julissa Villanueva, the head of the country's prison system, suggested the riot started because of recent attempts by authorities to crack down on illicit activity, and called Tuesday's violence a result of "the actions we are taking against organized crime."

"We will not back down," Villanueva said in a televised address after the riot.

"We condemn the terrible criminal acts that occurred in the Penal Center in Támara," Enrique Reina, Honduras' secretary of foreign affairs, tweeted. 

"This demonstrates the great escalation of the conspiracy against @XiomaraCastroZ by the dark forces that turned Honduras into a narco-state," Reina said. 

Gangs often wield broad control inside the country's prisons, where inmates often set their own rules and sell banned goods.

The riot appears to be the worst tragedy at a female detention center in the region since 2017, when girls at a shelter for troubled youths in Guatemala set fire to mattresses to protest rapes and other mistreatment at the overcrowded facility. The ensuing smoke and fire killed 41 girls.

The worst prison disaster in a century also occurred in Honduras, in 2012 at the Comayagua penitentiary, where 361 inmates died in a fire possibly caused by a match, cigarette or some other open flame.

In:
• Prison
• Central America