Image Source: Indiatoday

Agencies:

Four women among 11 killed in bar shooting in Mexico�s most violent state

New Delhi
September 28, 2020

At least 11 people, including four women, were killed in a bar in the central Mexico state of Guanajuato early Sunday in a suspected drug gang killing.

The bullet-ridden bodies were found at a bar near Jaral del Progreso town, state prosecutors said on Monday. The area is near the border with Michoac�n state, which has been a point of incursion for the Jalisco cartel, which wants to move into Guanajuato.

According to local media reports, the four dead women killed by gunmen may have been employed as dancers at the bar. There was no immediate information on a possible motive in the attack.

A further investigation is underway. Guanajuato has been the most violent state in Mexico in recent years, but authorities had hoped the detention of a leader of a local gang on August 2, 2020 would help stem the violence.

Authorities blame detained leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima gang, Jos� Antonio Y�pez Ort�z, for much of the violence in the industrial and farming state. Ort�z was popularly known as �El Marro� (The Sledgehammer) and had long fought a bloody turf battle with the Jalisco cartel.

While murders across the state dropped slightly to 339 in August from 403 in July this year, they may be rebounding in September as gang members fight to fill the vacuum left by Y�pez Ortiz�s detention.