By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted yesterday at 10:05 PM, updated yesterday at 10:17 PM
Eight people were shot dead in an armed attack on a nightclub in Jerez on Friday night. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ / Portal
Heavily armed men opened fire on a building in Zacatecas state, north of Mexico City.
Eight people were shot dead in an armed attack on a nightclub in Jerez, a city in north-central Mexico in the heart of a region plagued by drug cartel violence, local authorities reported on Sunday (January 29).
Heavily armed men opened fire on Friday night at this facility in the state of Zacatecas, about 670 km north of Mexico City.
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Six people died at the scene, two succumbed to their injuries while receiving medical treatment. Musicians, customers and nightclub staff are among the victims, according to local media. Five gunshot wounds were still hospitalized on Sunday.
escalation of violence
Violence in Zacatecas state has displaced hundreds of civilians over the past year. In particular, it results from a rivalry between the country’s two most powerful cartels, Jalisco Nueva Generacion and Sinaloa.
Mexico has recorded more than 340,000 murders and 100,000 missing since launching a militarized offensive against drug traffickers in 2006.
One of the architects of this offensive, former Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, is currently on trial in New York for alleged complicity with Joaquin Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel.