Rival gang clashes have killed 44 prisoners in Ecuador, just over a month after another prison riot killed 20, AP reports.

Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said at a press conference that one group of prisoners left their cells to attack another at the Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo.

Firearms, explosives and other weapons were found after police assault teams helped regain control of the prison, he said.

Authorities said 220 prisoners escaped during the violence, 112 of whom were caught.

Human rights group Amnesty International reported in March that at least 316 prisoners died in clashes in Ecuadorian prisons in 2020, including 119 who died in one riot in September of that year.

A month after this report was published, 20 people were killed in a clash between prison gangs.