Mexico inmates escaped through front door: officials

TORREON, Mexico (AFP) - The 131 Mexican inmates who escaped from a prison near the United States (US) border this week fled through the front door, not a tunnel as previously believed, officials said on Thursday.

Coahuila state attorney general Homero Ramos said three captured fugitives confirmed suspicions that the Zetas drug cartel was behind Monday's escape, with help from the penitentiary's guards.

"They said they got out through the main door and that the Zetas were taking them to Tamaulipas," a state east of Coahuila on the Gulf of Mexico, Mr Ramos said.

After catching two prisoners on Tuesday, authorities captured a third one on Wednesday in Monclova, a city some 240km south of the border town of Piedras Negras, where the prison is located.