Gunmen open fire on customers at a bar in Mexico, killing 5 and injuring 7

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

A manhunt has been launched for the perpetrators of the shooting on Saturday night in the city of Villahermosa, in the state of Tabasco, the secretary of security and civil protection said in a statement.

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

“The analysis of the video surveillance cameras was carried out and elements of the state and federal authorities implemented coordinated patrols to locate and arrest those responsible,” he added.

According to local media, unidentified gunmen broke into the La Casita Azul bar and opened fire on customers, leaving bloody 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 prisoners were killed in a prison riot in Tabasco.

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

That incident came two weeks after an attack at a bar left 10 dead in the city of Queretaro, in a central region that until now had been spared violence linked to organized crime.

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

In December, eight people were killed after gunmen approached a street stand in north central Mexico and opened fire on customers and passersby.

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

Gang-related violence has continued unabated after Mexico’s new president Claudia Sheinbaum took office on October 1.

She ruled out declaring war on the cartels and instead proposed a strategy that she described as based on the collection of intelligence to know their operational capacity.

Sheinbaum also wants to continue with his predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s policy of attacking crime at its roots, with investments in social spending and crime prevention.