Eight killed in attack on wake in Mexico

Gunmen killed eight people including two minors and wounded more than a dozen others in an attack on a wake in central Mexico, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The assailants opened fire late Tuesday at a house in the city of Cuernavaca using military-type rifles, the state prosecutor’s office reported.

Initial indications suggested the attack was the result of a fight between criminal gangs in Cuernavaca, a picturesque colonial city popular with tourists just south of the capital, the authorities said.

Four bodies were found outside the wake, which was held for a young man killed in a motorcycle accident, while the remaining victims died after being taken to hospital.

Another 14 people were wounded, according to prosecutors, who noted that high-caliber firearms had been used in other recent gang-related crimes.

In addition to the two minors killed, two others were wounded.

Morelos state, where Cuernavaca is located, is one of the Mexican states worst affected by cartel-related violence.

Authorities in Cuernavaca said they would ask the government to send more National Guard troops following the latest attack.

Mexico has been hit by a wave of violence since the government deployed the army to fight powerful drug cartels in 2006.

Since then, more than 290,000 people have been murdered, including a record 34,582 last year, according to official figures that do not specify how many of the cases are linked to organized crime.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador acknowledged Tuesday in a state of the nation address that murders and extortion by organized crime gangs had increased since he took office in December 2018. (AFP)