At least five people died and two were injured Monday in three separate shootings targeting Guatemala Penitentiary System vehicles, according to news reaching here.

In the first attack early in the day, two men aboard a motorcycle fired with an AK-47 at a truck carrying a prisoner from the town of Villa Nueva to a prison in the city's northern 18th district, as it traveled along Aguilar Batres Avenue in the south of the capital, Guatemala City, police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said.

Prison officer Prudencio Pineda, 20, died on the spot and his colleague, Eduardo Chavez, died later in hospital. The killers were arrested by security forces after they fell from the motorbike, Gonzalez said.

In the second incident, also in the morning, Felix Garcia, director of the El Progeso province jail, was killed on the spot on the street close to the San Juan de Dios hospital in eastern Guatemala City when a team of heavily armed men attacked his vehicle. Two passers-by were injured.

A third attack killed Javier Bat, deputy director of Chimaltenango jail, and prison guard Eliseo Hernandez when they were driving through the western province of Chimaltenango on the Inter-American Highway.

Prison Service General Directorate's headquarters in Guatemala City was shot by gunmen on Saturday. No one was hurt in the attack.

Source: Xinhua