Eleven shot dead in Mexico bar attack in gang-plagued state
2022.10.15 23:55
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Unidentified gunmen opened fire in a bar in the central Mexican city of Irapuato on Saturday evening, shooting dead six women and five men, local authorities said, the second mass shooting in the state of Guanajuato in less than a month.
Local media said three people were injured in the attack.
The city government said in a statement security forces were trying to track down the assailants behind the attack that took place in the Lupita neighborhood on Irapuato’s southern rim.
The motive behind the shooting was not immediately clear.
Guanajuato, a major manufacturing hub and production site for many of the world’s top carmakers, has been convulsed in recent years by brutal turf wars between rival drug gangs.
On Sept. 21, gunmen shot dead 10 people in an attack at a bar in the Guanajuato town of Tarimoro, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Irapuato.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in late 2018 pledging to reduce record levels of gang violence in Mexico, but he has struggled to contain the bloodletting.
While homicides have fallen somewhat in 2022, Lopez Obrador is on track to preside over the most violent administration in Mexico’s modern history by a substantial margin. He has blamed corruption in past governments for fuelling the lawlessness.
