Gang members at two prisons in El Salvador took some 100 visitors and prison staff hostage on Thursday, demanding direct negotiation with a top federal human rights ombudsman and an Archbishop, according to reports reaching in Mexico City from San Salvador, capital of El Salvador.
Among the hostages, some 60 women, six men and three children were held at a jail in Cojutepeque, 30 km east of San Salvador, while over 40 people, mostly women visitors, were captured at a jail in Chalatenango, 150 km north of the capital city, the reports quoted a prison spokeswoman as saying.
The incidents took place when inmates' visiting friends and family members were about to leave the prisons, said the spokeswoman.
She also said that the "kidnappers", who belong to the M-18 street gang, were not armed, but refused to let anyone leave until they were given the opportunity to talk directly with federal human rights ombudsman Beatrice de Carrillo and Salvadoran Archbishop Fernando Saenz Lacalle.
The exact motives for the hostage-takings remained unclear, she added.