The killings took place on Saturday at the Quezaltepeque jail, some 30 kilometers (30 miles) north of the capital, San Salvador. The prison authorities said the dead bodies were found in various parts of the correctional facility.

A presidential spokesman told the AFP news agency that the prison violence was linked to an internal feud between two groups of the Barrio 18 gang.

"There has been an internal confrontation," said Eugenio Chicas, the communications secretary for the presidency.

According to a statement issued on Twitter by the Directorate General of Prisons, the killings were "presumed to be an act of purification among gang members."

The jail authorities declared a state of emergency in the prison for 72 hours. Security has been beefed up in the prison as scores of people with relatives inside the jail are inquiring about the identities of the dead.

The Quezaltepeque penitentiary held around 1,000 inmates, most of them members of the Barrio 18 gang.

Increasing violence

El Salvador is one of the most dangerous countries in Central America. The level of violence has increased in the country over the past year with the breakdown of a truce between the Barrio 18 gang and its rival, the Mara Salvatrucha. The gangs came to prominence in the 1980s in Los Angeles' Latino neighborhoods.

At least 125 people were murdered in the country in just three days last week, the police said on Wednesday.

Government statistics show at least 3,840 people have been killed so far this year in the country of 6.4 million people. President Sanchez Ceren has tried to crack down on criminal gangs since coming to power last year.

shs/ng (AFP, Reuters)