BAR BLOODBATH
At least 12 killed after masked drug cartel gunmen burst into bar and begin firing as customers cowered in terror
AT LEAST 12 people have been executed by gunmen after they barged into a central Mexico bar amid growing gang violence.
Initial reports indicate that five men and six women were killed and three others were injured in the Irapuato bar in the Mexican state of Guanajuato on Saturday around 8pm local time.
3
3
3
The region, now one of Mexico's most dangerous, has become the site of a blazing dispute between two rival gangs, the Santa Rosa de Lima and Jalisco New Generation cartels.
Both are knows for drug trafficking and fuel theft, among other crimes which also include murder, kidnapping and forced amputations.
Local media reported that customers had been enjoying their evening together at the Texana bar - also know as El Pantano - when the heavily armed men with their faces covered broke up and opened fire.
Customers and employees tried to flee by the bar's back door, but many did not survive. Others escaped and ran to find help as loud gunfire could be heard by scared neighbours.
In a statement, the municipal government confirmed at least 12 had died, but did not reveal the identity of the attackers or their motives.
READ MORE IN WORLD NEWS
The body of one victim was found outside the bar next to a motorcycle, while the rest of those killed were discovered inside the bar, police said.
State police, the army, the National Guard and the prosecutor's office are now hunting the criminals, the municipal government said.
This is the second mass shooting in the area in less than a month, authorities said.
In September, gunmen killed 10 people in a pool hall in the state's Tarimoro municipality.
Most read in News
At the time, the killers left behind two cards signed by the criminal group Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima, who claimed responsibility for the slaughter.
In May, 11 were killed in brutal attacks at a hotel and two bars in the city of Celaya, also in Guanajuato state.
A further five were injured as suspected cartel gunmen armed with Molotov cocktails stormed the sites in a coordinated series of hits.
The nearby state of Guerrero has also been suffering from the uptake in gang violence.
Read More on The Sun
Earlier this month, members of an organised crime group massacred 20 people - including the mayor inside the town hall of San Miguel Totolapan.
In total, authorities have recorded 2,115 homicides in the area between January and August.
Who are the members of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel?
This group emerged from a power vacuum left after the death of former Sinaloa cartel chief Ignacio Coronel and the capture of friendly ally Oscar Orlando Nava Valencia.
At this point Valencia's cartel split into two factions, one of which eventually emerged around 2009 as the powerhouse cartel in Jalisco state.
They immediately went to war with the Los Zetas and proudly claimed responsibility for a swathe of mass killings, including the massacre of 15 Mexican cops in a single ambush.
During this time it went by the name MataZetas, or Zetas killers, and once dumped the bodies of 35 tortured dead Zetas cartel members on the side of a road.
For some time it was allied with El Chapo's Sinaloa, but since his capture his Sinaloa cartel has been usurped by New Generation as the most powerful in Mexico.
In mid-2015, members of the group even used a rocket-propelled grenade to shoot down an army Black Hawk helicopter, killing nine.
In 2016 his brother, said to be the financial brains behind the criminal empire, was captured.
Like La Familia Michoacana, this group is said to have forced new members to eat the hearts of murder victims to prove their loyalty.
This practice came to prominence when a 16-year-old and 17-year-old were captured by cops and admitted what they had done, according to .
Local prosecutors claimed two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, remained unrepentant after they were drugged with crack then forced to eat human flesh by senior cartel bosses.
Topics