Mexican authorities are searching for gunmen who killed at least 12 people and wounded three others after opening fire at a bar in central Mexico on Saturday night.
Gunfire was reported at the bar in the city of Irapuato in the central state of Guanajuato around 8:00 p.m. local time on Saturday, the city’s Citizen Security Minister said in a statement.
Rescuers confirmed the death of six men and six women after arriving at the scene, according to the statement. It is unclear who the victims are and how many gunmen were involved in the shooting.
A search operation for the attackers is underway with the support of Guanajuato’s Minister of Public Security as well as the state attorney general’s office, the minister of National Defense and the National Guard.
This is the second mass killing in less than a month in Guanajuato state, which has been rocked in recent years by brutal wars between rival drug gangs, according to Reuters.
The state is a major manufacturing hub and manufacturing location for many of the world’s leading automakers.
It is attractive to drug cartels for the same reason it is to car manufacturers: road and rail networks that lead directly to the US border.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has struggled to deal with gang violence since taking office in late 2018, according to Reuters.
Although the number of homicides has fallen slightly this year, López Obrador’s term is expected to be the bloodiest in recent history.
