At least 21 killed in Brazil prison breakout bid: officials

At least 21 people died Tuesday in an attempted breakout from a prison in northern Brazil aided by an armed group on the outside trying to blow up a wall, officials said.

The Para state security service described the mass escape attempt at the Santa Izabel Penitentiary Complex, near the Amazon rainforest city of Belem in Para state, as a military style battle in which both prisoners inside and associates on the outside were armed.