Police say 13 inmates and one prison guard have been killed in a jail in Ecuador.
Another 14 people were injured in clashes between rival gangs.
People living near the prison in the southwestern city of Machala reported explosions and gunshots.
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William Calle, the Police chief said an unknown number of prisoners had escaped during the incident.
Prison authorities have recaptured 13 inmates.
Deadly prison clashes and riots are common in Ecuador, with gangs often targeting others.
Police blamed members of a criminal gang calling itself Los Lobos Box for violence.Â
Some inmates managed to escape through a hole in the perimeter wall caused by an explosive device they had set off.
It is not clear yet how the explosives were smuggled into the jail.
Among the 14 injured are two police officers, Commander Calle added.
He added that the security forces had regained control of the prison after deploying 200 police and soldiers.
Ecuador has been struggling to contain a wave of gang violence that has seen it transformed from one of the safest nations in Latin America to one of the deadliest.
Prison gangs have played a key role in running criminal enterprises from behind bars and have struck alliances with Mexican drug cartels to control the flow of cocaine from neighbouring producer countries through Ecuador's ports to the US and beyond.
