Inmates at the Urso Branco prisonin Porto Velho, capital of Rondonia in northern Brazil, have taken more than 200 visitors hostage amid a riot which has raged since Sunday, military police said on Tuesday. (Photo: Xnhua/REUTERS)

    BRASILIA, Dec. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Inmates at the Urso Branco prisonin Porto Velho, capital of Rondonia in northern Brazil, have taken more than 200 visitors hostage amid a riot which has raged since Sunday, military police said on Tuesday.

    The prisoners demanded their leader's return to the prison. Edinildo de Souza, alias Birrinha, was transferred last Thursday to the Nova Amore jail, 200 kilometers away.

    Birrinha was held responsible for a bloody riot in April 2004 that left 14 dead. He was accused of beheading four inmates.

    Military police spokesman Lenilson Guedez said state authorities had already agreed to return Birrinha, as long as inmates release their hostages.

    The prisoner are also demanding better conditions, an end to transfers out of the prison and visits by human rights monitors.

    They have also demanded a prosecutor they dislike be relieved of his duties but officials did not say if they planned to grant that request.

    Police said all the hostages were relatives of the inmates, adding that there was no confirmation of the inmates' claim that they have killed at least 10 other prisoners during the rebellion.     

    A TV footage showed a group of inmates holding from the roof ofthe prison what they said were the bodies of two inmates wrapped in blankets.

    Urso Branco, built to hold 360 inmates, currently jails over 1,000. Enditem