Ten dead after gunmen attack bar in Mexico's Acapulco port city

Ten dead after gunmen attack bar in Mexico's Acapulco port city

2011-03-19 21:53:39 GMT+7 (ICT)

ACAPULCO, MEXICO (BNO NEWS) -- Gunmen on early Saturday killed 10 people and wounded four others in an attack on a bar in the Mexican resort city of Acapulco, El Universal newspaper reported.

The group of unidentified armed men opened fire on customers at the Las Nenas bar after midnight, before fleeing the scene, the Public Security Ministry of the state of Guerrero said. Unofficially, it was reported that four people, including a woman, who were allegedly injured were transferred to a nearby hospital.

Police found the bodies of the victims dispersed under the tables where they sat. On one side of the bodies there were more than 100 shell casings from AK-47 rifles, AR-15 rifles and .9 mm handguns. Police cordoned off the area to carry out an investigation.

Acapulco has been marred with organized crime violence in the last days. At least 20 people have been killed in the touristic port. Héctor Paulino Vargas López, chief of Acapulco police, labeled the situation as 'delicate'.

On Thursday, three people, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed. On Wednesday, a group of unidentified armed men was travelling on five vans and stormed three neighborhoods killing eight people, including three minors, and injuring two more.

The gunmen also threw a grenade at a residence which burned it to the ground and torched a small store. Among the victims there were a 14-year-old boy, a 70-year -old woman and her two grandsons.

In February, at least 12 taxi drivers were murdered and about ten more people were killed in drug-related violence. In January, 15 decapitated bodies were found in the touristic port city.

According to government figures, a total of 15,273 drug-related crimes occurred in Mexico in 2010. Fifty percent of them were concentrated in three northern states: Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas. More than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon began the fight against organized crime in December 2006.

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