Gangs clash inside Brazil prison where 26 massacred this week

Inmates are seen during an uprising at Alcacuz prison in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil, January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Josemar Goncalves

RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Hundreds of inmates from rival drug gangs clashed on Thursday inside a Brazilian prison where 26 inmates were killed in the latest of an ongoing series of bloody uprisings, television images showed.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters into the yard of the Alcacuz prison in northeastern Brazil as helicopters buzzed overhead. Prisoners erected makeshift barricades, while inmates traded blows with wooden clubs and hurled stones.