Six women were killed by alleged gang members at a women’s prison near the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, the National Penitentiary Institute said.

The killers broke through gates and the roof of a building at the women’s prison in Tamara, 10 kilometers to the north of Tegucigalpa, “to go to the gymnasium where six prisoners were staying and murdered them”.

One prisoner had earlier caused a diversion by starting a fire in a dormitory where two inmates quarantined over the coronavirus pandemic were sleeping, in a building housing 1 300 prisoners. Firefighters put out the fire but two women were injured.