[AP] 3 inmates killed in Mexico prison near deadly riot

MONTERREY, MEXICO Three inmates were killed Tuesday in a northern Mexico prison a few miles (kilometers) from the penitentiary where authorities say 44 gang members were massacred this week by prisoners from a rival drug cartel.

Nuevo Leon state public security spokesman Jorge Domene Zambrano said the latest victims, two men and a woman, had been booked into the Topo Chico prison Monday on suspicion of kidnapping.

Domene said the men were stabbed to death in the prison's observation area and the woman in the infirmary.

At the time the three suspects were presented to the media in early February, Domene described them as members of the Gulf drug cartel, like the 44 prisoners slain Sunday at the prison in nearby Apodaca.

That massacre may have been the deadliest prison killing in at least a quarter century in Mexico. The prison's director and 18 guards are being held on suspicion of allowing imprisoned Zeta gang members to escape.

Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina said 16 guards have confessed to aiding the escape.

Late Tuesday, about 50 women related to inmates clashed with police outside the Apodaca prison and set fire to a pile of cardboard and wood at a gate. Crying women threw stones at officers when they poured water on the fire from behind the mesh gate, while others tried to climb the fence.

The women told a local television station they were desperate for information about their loved ones inside the prison.

Fighting between the Zetas and Gulf drug cartels has brought a surge of violence and other crime to the Monterrey region, which is Mexico's third largest.

On Tuesday, gunmen opened fire on a group of taxi drivers waiting at a taxi stand outside a shopping center in Monterrey, killing five.

Witnesses told police the gunmen fired from a passing car, Domene said.

He said authorities were trying to determine if the attack was related to the prison violence.

Taxi drivers are often hired by drug cartels and equipped with high-end handheld radios to work as lookouts.