TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (NEWSnet/AP) — A grisly riot at a women’s prison in Honduras Tuesday left at least 41 women dead, in violence the country's president blamed street gangs that often wield broad power inside penitentiaries.

Prisoners belonging to the feared Barrio gang reportedly burst into a cell block and shot other inmates or set them afire.

Twenty-six of the victims were burned to death and the remainder shot or stabbed at the prison.

At least seven inmates were being treated at a the hospital.

Video clips shown by the government from inside the prison showed several pistols and a heap of machetes and other bladed weapons that were found after the riot.

On top of the gangs, officials also blamed a lack of security.

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