7 dead in Mexico bar shooting

Gunmen opened fire early Sunday at a bar in southeast Mexico, leaving seven people dead and at least five others injured.

The shooting took place in the coastal province of Tabasco, which is struggling with a recent increase in violence.

A manhunt was launched for the perpetrators of the shooting on Saturday night in the city of Villahermosa, in Tabasco state, the secretariat of security and civilian protection said in a statement.

“Analysis of video surveillance cameras is being carried out and elements of the state and federal authorities have deployed coordinated patrols to locate and arrest those responsible,” it added.

The death toll initially stood at five, but the Tabasco public prosecutor's office later said two more people had died in the attack on what it described as “a clandestine bar that operated irregularly.”

According to local media, unidentified gunmen burst into the bar La Casita Azul and opened fire at customers, leaving bloodied bodies strewn on the floor.

Tabasco, home to oil production facilities, has seen an increase in violent crime in recent months.

In November, six people were killed and 10 wounded in another armed attack on a bar in Villahermosa.

It came two weeks after an attack on a bar left 10 dead in the city of Queretaro, in a central region that until now had been spared from violence linked to organized crime.

The same weekend, six people were killed in a shooting in a bar in a suburb of Mexico City.

Drug-related violence has seen more than 450,000 people killed in Mexico since the government deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures._Agencies