AlQa'dah 08, 1436, August 23, 2015, SPA -- Fourteen members of one of El Salvador's most powerful street gangs were killed in a prison on Saturday in what appeared to be an internal gang purge, authorities said, according to Reuters. El Salvador has been racked by rising violence over the past year, with murders surging since the breakdown of a gang truce between the Barrio 18 group and their rivals, the Mara Salvatrucha. El Salvador's central prison authority said the killings took place in a penitentiary in Quetzaltepeque, some 25 km (16 miles) northwest of the capital San Salvador. The bodies of the victims were found in various parts of the prison. The correctional facility held around 1,000 inmates, who authorities said were all members of the Barrio 18 gang. The prison authority described the killings as a "purge action" by the gang, but did not give further details.
