New Delhi:
At least five people were killed and another was injured after gunmen attacked a bus station at Cuernavaca in Mexico on Monday. It is to be noted that Mexico’s Cuernavaca is a picturesque colonial city popular with tourists.
In a statement, the security commission for the state of Morelos, of which Cuernavaca is the capital, said the gunmen staged a targeted attack, seeking out specific victims at the Estrella de Oro bus station, near the city center.
In the meantime, local media reports indicated that the gunmen killed three victims aboard a bus, one in the waiting area and one in a bathroom. According to the authorities, Morelos is the scene of a turf war between at least five different drug cartels. “Homicides have shot up in Morelos state due to warfare between rival organized crime rings involved in drug dealing and extortion,” the authorities added.
Authorities investigating the case said it appeared the assailants were specifically targeting the victims, not carrying out an attack on the terminal, which belongs to the Estrella de Oro (Gold Star) bus line. "This was an execution, they planned this," Morelos Gov. Cuauhtemoc Blanco told reporters.
It is worth mentioning here that 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 250,000 people have been murdered.
In his first annual state of the nation address, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Mexico “still suffers from insecurity and violence" nine months into his presidency. On the occasion, he also vowed to step up efforts to end the gruesome violence of the country's drug war.
(With inputs from PTI)
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