HORRIFYING video shows rioting jailbirds playing football with severed heads.

A deadly riot at the Altamira prison in Brazil has led to at least 57 deaths and a major fire. And now video has emerged showing inmates kicking the heads of their decapitated rivals around the prison yard.

Two rival gangs have been blamed for starting the troubles, with one group breaking into an area earmarked for the other faction, locking the room and setting fire to a number of mattresses which booked the exits.

Dozens were killed by smoke inhalation, while 16 were beheaded in brutal fights.

“We transferred more than thirty leaders of criminal factions to Catanduvas, in Paraná, as a preventive measure”

Jarbas Vasconcelos

“It was a targeted attack,” said.Jarbas Vasconcelos, state prisons chief in Brazil “The aim was to show that it was a settling of accounts between the two groups, not a protest or rebellion against the prison system.”

The deadly clash started around 7am and was brought under control by 12pm by the Tactical Operational Group of the Military Police of Pará who were called in to quell the riot.

They worked with representatives from the prison system to negotiate the release of hostages. Two prison guards who had been captured by the rioters were later released.

The death toll could rise after authorities have searched all areas involved, Mr Vasconcelos said at a news conference.

The prison has a capacity of 208 but is reported to be overcrowded with 372 inmates.

Prison authorities said they were still trying to determine the ringleaders behind the attack, and those men will be transferred to federal prisons.

In October 2016 another Brazilian prison riot ended with a severed head being used as a football by inmates.

In that case the notorious Primeiro Comando da Capital drugs syndicate were thought to be behind the violence at the prison in Fortaleza, north-eastern Brazil,