141 convicts escape Mexican prison on US border

MEXICO CITY: At least 141 inmates escaped from a Mexican prison near the US border Friday, deepening alarm in a region suffering extreme violence from rival drug gangs.

"Early investigations show the inmates left through the service entrance for vehicles and were obviously helped by prison staff; there's no doubt about that," said Tamaulipas state Public Safety Secretary Antonio Garza.

He said at least 141 inmates fled the penitentiary in Nuevo Laredo, lowering an earlier estimate of 159 a prison official had given the French news agency. Media reports said as many as 190 prisoners fled.

The prison warden was "listed as missing" after the break-out, he said, without adding further detail.

Garza said the massive escape from Nuevo Laredo's Punishment Center went unnoticed until a routine head count late Thursday.

The break-out from the facility in the northeastern Mexican city -- which lies just across the Rio Grande river from the city of Laredo in the US state of Texas -- was one of the biggest in Mexico in recent years.

The last big escape was on September 10 in Reynosa, when 85 inmates fled. In March, 41 prisoners fled in Matamoros -- both cities are on the US border.

Between January and September, more than 340 prisoners have escaped from prisons in Tamaulipas state, where Nuevo Laredo is located, according to public security officials.

One of seven Mexican states bordering the United States, Tamaulipas is prime battleground between the Golfo and Los Zetas drug cartels, whose rivalry often leads to bloody shoot-outs on city streets.

The whole northern border area is the scene of a bloody struggle between two heavily armed gangs, the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, according to officials.

Rising lawlessness as the cartels battle it out for lucrative smuggling routes into the United States, and engaging in clashes with Mexican police and military, have raised concerns on both sides of the border.

Extra Mexican police and troops have been brought in to reinforce security at prisons.

Officials said this week the number of deaths in Mexico's vicious four-year drug gang war has soared past 30,000, with 12,456 fatalities this year alone.

President Felipe Calderon launched a massive military crackdown on the cartels in December 2006, and since then there has been an escalating cycle of violence.