Mexico City: Nine people were killed and two others wounded Friday when armed men talked their way into a prison in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero and started shooting, authorities said. The dead include five of the six attackers, the state attorney general's office said. The other fatalities were inmates at Tuxpan prison in Iguala, where the intruders appeared early Friday and obtained admittance by claiming to be law enforcement personnel on a mission to deliver a prisoner. Once inside, the gunmen began shooting, initially at inmates and then at guards stationed on one of the watchtowers, the Guerrero AG's office said. The guards returned fire, killing all but one of the attackers.

The surviving assailant and a wounded guard remain hospitalised. State police and troops from the army's 27th Infantry Battalion aided the warden and guards in re-establishing control of the prison, the AG's office said. Authorities seized a stolen truck used by the attackers. The statement shed no light on a possible motive for the assault. Investigators will examine every possibility, including "the involvement of public servants, whether by omission or participation," the state AG's office said.