Gunmen open fire on customers at a bar in Mexico, killing 7 people and wounding 5 others

A shooting in a bar in southeastern Mexico killed seven people and injured five others, authorities said Sunday, in the latest in a series of similar attacks in the violent country.

The Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection said in a statement that a manhunt had begun in search of the perpetrators of the shooting on Saturday evening in the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco state.

He added, “Five people were killed and seven injured.”

She added, “Video surveillance cameras are being analyzed, and state and federal authorities have deployed coordinated patrols to locate and arrest those responsible.”

The death toll was initially five, but the Tabasco prosecutor’s office later said two more people had died in the attack on what it described as an “irregularly operated secret bar.”

Local media reported that unidentified gunmen stormed the La Casita Azul bar and opened fire on customers, leaving bloodied bodies scattered on the floor.

Tabasco, home to oil production facilities, has seen an increase in violent crime in recent months. Just last month, Seven inmates were killed In a riot in Tabasco prison.

In november, Six people were killed 10 were wounded in another armed attack on a bar in Villahermosa.

This incident came two weeks after an attack on a bar It left 10 dead In the city of Queretaro, in a central region that has until now been spared the violence associated with organized crime.

The same weekend, six people were killed in a shooting in a bar in a suburb of Mexico City.

In December, Eight people were killed After gunmen stopped at a roadside stand in north-central Mexico and opened fire on customers and passers-by.

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

Gang-related violence continued unabated after the election of a new Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum He took office on October 1.

It has ruled out declaring war on the cartels and instead proposed a strategy that it described as relying on intelligence gathering to deplete its operational capacity.

Sheinbaum also wants to continue her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s policy of attacking crime at its roots, by investing in social spending and crime prevention.