A shooting at a bar in southeastern Mexico left five people dead and seven wounded, authorities said Sunday, the latest in a string of similar attacks in the violence-plagued country.
A manhunt was launched for those who carried out the shooting on Saturday night in the city of Villahermosa, in the state of Tabasco, the secretary of security and civil defense said in a statement.
“Five people lost their lives and seven people were injured,” he said.
“Video surveillance cameras are being analyzed and elements of the state and federal authorities have deployed coordinated patrols to find and arrest those responsible,” he said.
According to local media, unknown gunmen entered the La Casita Azul bar 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. Just last month, seven prisoners were killed in a prison riot in Tabasco.
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In November, six people were killed and 10 wounded in another armed attack on a bar in Villahermosa.
That incident happened two weeks after the bar attack left 10 dead in the city of Queretaro, in the center of an area that had so far been spared violence related to organized crime.
On the same weekend, six people were killed in a shooting in a bar in a suburb of Mexico City.
In December, killed eight people after gunmen took up a roadside stand in central northern Mexico and opened fire on shoppers and waiters.
Drug-related violence has killed more than 450,000 people in Mexico since the government deployed the army to fight human trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.
Gang-related violence has continued unabated following Mexico's new president Claudia Sheinbaum took office on October 1.
She has refused to declare war on the cartels and instead proposed a strategy she said was based on gathering information to save their viability.
Sheinbaum also wants to continue her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's policy of attacking crime at its roots, investing in social spending and crime prevention.
