Five dead, seven wounded in Mexico bar shooting

MEXICO CITY: A shooting at a bar in southeastern Mexico left five people dead and seven wounded, authorities said Sunday, the latest in a series of similar attacks in the violence-plagued country.

A manhunt was launched for the perpetrators of the shooting on Saturday night in the city of Villahermosa, in Tabasco state, the secretariat of security and civilian protection said in a statement.

“Five people lost their lives and seven were injured,” it said.

“Analysis of video surveillance cameras is being carried out and elements of the state and federal authorities have deployed coordinated patrols to locate and arrest those responsible,” it added.

According to local media, unidentified gunmen burst into the bar La Casita Azul and opened fire at customers, leaving bloodied bodies strewn on the floor.

Tabasco, home to oil production facilities, has seen an increase in violent crime in recent months.

In November, six people were killed and 10 wounded in another armed attack on a bar in Villahermosa.

It came two weeks after an attack on a bar left 10 dead in the city of Queretaro, in a central region that until now had been spared from violence linked to organized crime. The same weekend, six people were killed in a shooting in a bar in a suburb of Mexico City.

Drug-related violence has seen more than 450,000 people killed in Mexico since the government deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.