Police examine cars used in prison break in Mexico

Authorities in the central Mexican town of Tula on Wednesday inspected a modified vehicle suspected to have been used by a gang to ram a prison, helping nine inmates to escape.

A truck with a metal plate soldered to the front was seen near the prison entrance.

Other cars on the scene were marked for bullet holes, and authorities said burned-out vehicles on a roadside were used as a distraction.

Martin Ugalde, who waited for his wife to give birth in a nearby hospital, said they heard an explosion and saw cars bursting into flames in the early morning hours.

Local media reported cars exploded, but authorities said they were investigating how the vehicles caught fire.

The use of car bombs by gangs in Mexico has been extremely rare, with one such attack in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez in 2010 killing three people.

But gangs in Mexico frequently do torch vehicles to distract police, and vehicles set alight can appear to explode once the flames reach their gas tanks.

The incident is one of the most dramatic breakouts the country has seen in recent years with authorities confirming the escapees were all in prison for having committed serious crimes, including homicide and kidnapping.