More than 30 inmates were killed, many of them mutilated, in Brazil's second prison riot this week as drug gangs based in overcrowded prisons fight over cocaine-smuggling routes.

The state government of Roraima in northern Brazil said 33 inmates were killed early Friday morning in a prison in the state capital of Boa Vista.
"Many of the dead have been decapitated and had their hearts and guts ripped out," said the state's justice secretary, Uziel de Castro Jr., who witnessed the scene inside the prison following the violence.

Friday's deaths brought the total number of inmates killed in riots over the past three months to about 140, according to figures provided by Brazil's Justice Ministry.

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