Twenty five injured in Egyptian prison riot

ASSIUT, Egypt (Reuters) - At least 25 men were injured in clashes between warders and prisoners in the south Egyptian city of Assiut on Monday after one prisoner died in solitary confinement, the government said.

The death of the prisoner, named by the Interior Ministry as Ali Mohamed Mohamed Abdel Salam, led to uproar among the other prisoners, who took three officers hostage and seized their weapons, police sources added.

Clashes continued inside the prison building for several hours. Police used tear gas and live ammunition to subdue the prisoners and were able to restore control, the sources added. The injured included 21 prisoners and four warders.

Police sources said earlier that the clashes began when a group of armed men attacked the prison from outside and managed to take weapons into the building, apparently as part of an attempt to free prisoners. Those sources also named the dead man as Hani Rifaat Ghandour, rather than Ali Abdel Salam.

But the Interior Ministry said in a statement the incident began with a brawl between four prisoners armed with table cutlery. Police intervened to separate them and decided to punish them with 48 hours in solitary confinement.

"The first prisoner (Abdel Salam) died while undergoing this punishment. A rumor then spread among the prisoners that he died because an officer assaulted him," it said.

Assiut is the largest Egyptian city south of Cairo, with about 400,000 people. It lies on the Nile about 300 km (180 miles) south of the capital.

(Reporting by Mohamed Abdellah and Samer Elatrash, Writing by Jonathan Wright)