MEXICO CITY, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- A bloody riot Wednesday in the La Esperanza Jail, in Mariona, in the outskirts of San Salvador, left a toll of at least 20 dead and another 30 injured.

    According to official reports from San Salvador, capital of El Salvador, the Director of the Penitentiary System, Rodolfo Garay, declared a state of emergency for 72 hours due to the severity of the situation.

    The representative of the Attorney General's office of the Mejicanos municipality told the local radio that all of the dead and injured accounted for to this moment are inmates.

    The riot started at 9:30 hours, local time (1530 GMT) and was controlled an hour and a half later.

    According to the Secretary of the Direction of the La EsperanzaJail, Rene Duran, the mutiny developed in the patio as a consequence of a quarrel among members of the gang known as Mara 18, so the guards "decided to open fire to the air to calm them down."

    Duran did not indicate under what circumstances the inmates were killed and injured. Enditem