Gunmen attacked the town hall of San Miguel Totolapan, a small city in western Mexico, on Wednesday. At least 18 people, including the city’s mayor, were killed in the incident, BBC reported.
The left-wing PRD party of slain mayor Conrado Mendoza Almeida condemned the ‘cowardly’ killing and demanded justice.
A criminal gang called Los Tequileros has been blamed for the attack. The gang is said to be linked to powerful drug cartels.
Police officers and council workers were also reportedly killed in the killings.
Mendoza Almeida’s father, former mayor Juan Mendoza Acosta, was killed in his home before the town hall attack.
The BBC’s Mexico correspondent Will Grant said it was a shocking attack even by the violent standards of the state of Guerrero.
San Miguel Totolapan is located in the heart of a region known as Tierra Caliente. It’s a violent part of drug cartel-controlled western Mexico. Various groups have been fighting for control of the lucrative drug route north along the Pacific corridor.
Initial local media reports, citing Guerrero’s attorney general, said 18 people were killed and three others were injured.
After the attack, the Ministry of Defense said it was deploying army and navy units to the area to track down the gunmen.
Shortly before the attack, alleged members of Los Tequileros released a video on social networks announcing their return to the region. Here they were fighting a rival drug cartel.
The criminal group nearly destroyed Guerrero between 2015 and 2017 and regularly threatened the region’s mayors before killing leader Rebel Jacobo de Almonte.
(06 October)