Venezuela prison battle kills 37: governor

At least 37 people have been killed during clashes between armed inmates and security forces at a prison in southern Venezuela, a state governor says.

Liborio Guarulla says the bloodshed came after fighting erupted between inmates and their jailers on Tuesday night in Puerto Ayacucho, the capital of Amazonas state.

Security forces moved in to restore order at the facility, where the inmates seized control several weeks ago.

"At midnight special forces showed up and through the night we heard gunfire and explosions," Guarulla said on Wednesday.

The office of Venezuela's chief prosecutor said on social media it was investigating the incident, which also injured 14 prison guards.

Guarulla said the city morgue had been overwhelmed trying to handle so many bodies.

Many Venezuelan prisons suffer from overcrowding and are dominated by criminal gangs that traffic in weapons and narcotics.

The death toll was the worst in Venezuela since a prison riot in 2013 that left 61 people dead.