JERUSALEM, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Dozens of people were wounded in violent clashes between Palestinian inmates and prison guards at an Israeli jail on Monday, prison officials said. At least 15 inmates and 15 guards were wounded during an early morning riot in a prison in southern Israel's Negev desert, an Israel Prisons Service spokeswoman said. One of the inmates was in serious condition and transferred to a hospital. A Palestinian official involved in prisoner affairs said the estimated number of wounded was 250. The violence flared up when prison guards conducted a routine search for weapons in a tented complex housing 1,000 inmates, Eli Gabizon, commander of the Israel Prisons Service southern district, told Israel Radio. During the riot, which lasted about an hour, inmates fought with Israeli guards and set tents ablaze, the spokeswoman said. Issa Qaraqe, a member of the Palestinian parliament, told Reuters: "We strongly condemn this new crime against the Palestinian prisoners."
