A Mexican soldier secures the compound as black smoke billows over the prison.

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In the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez, 14 people were killed in a brutal attack on a prison on Sunday. Many people who wanted to visit their relatives at New Year were waiting in front of the gates of the state prison "Centro de Readaptación Social Cereso 3".

The Chihuahua Attorney General's Office reported that several armored vehicles suddenly pulled up and fired at the guards without warning. Chaos and turmoil in the drug war-torn border town!

Heavily armed emergency services could not prevent two dozen men from escaping.

Terrible: At least 14 people died in the hail of bullets, including ten security forces and four prisoners. Four people were injured - initially, it was even assumed that 13 were injured.

Although hooded soldiers and heavily armed police rushed to the prison, at least 24 inmates managed to escape. Videos from Mexican media showed thick black smoke billowing over the prison.

Multiple attacks in one day

According to the Attorney General's Office, the security forces have the situation under control. However, shortly before the bloody attack on the prison, police officers were also attacked - four suspects were arrested, and two others were killed.

It's a black day for Mexico, where violence is commonplace. Ciudad Juárez is on the US border, where drug cartels have been fighting for power, supremacy, and the best smuggling routes into the neighboring country for decades. With 85 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, the city is one of the most dangerous in the world.

Many people waited in front of the entrance to visit their relatives during the attack. These desperate women comforted each other.

Drug cartels control prisons.

Members of the notorious Sinaloa cartel and the Juárez cartel are incarcerated in the “Cereso 3" prison. There, in August, a revolt spread to the entire city. Eleven people died.

Many prisons in Mexico are overcrowded and controlled by drug gangs. The country has long fought corruption within the judiciary but seems powerless against the influential cartel bosses. In the worst case, the now-freed inmates could take up arms again.

So the senseless bloodshed will continue.