Last night, at least 25 people were killed in an arson attack by suspected gang members on a bar in the southeastern Mexican port of Coatzacoalcos , in the state of Veracruz , President López Obrador said, in a fresh blow to his efforts to curb violence .
Calling the attack “horrendous,” López Obrador told a regular morning news conference that the deaths occurred after the suspected gangsters closed the emergency exits of the bar in Coatzacoalcos and set fire to it.
The Attorney General’s Office of the state of Veracruz said that eight women and 15 men died in the fire at the “Caballo Blanco” bar , and 13 people who were seriously wounded were hospitalized for treatment.
López Obrador said 25 people had died so far and those initial investigations indicated that some suspects behind the attack had been in custody this year and were later released.
In a post on Twitter , Veracruz state governo r Cuitláhuac García suggested that the attack was the result of a dispute between gangs .
Governor Cuitláhuac García a
lso identified one of the possible attackers. According to the governor , Ricardo “N” is one of those responsible for the attack against the Coatzacoalcos port. García explained that the alleged attacker had been arrested in July but that the Attorney General's Offic e in the state released him.
Th e Gulf Coast state is a maj or transit point for drugs making their way north towards the U.S. border and has long been convulsed by violent turf wars between organized crime groups.
Some Mexican media reports said that gunmen had fired shots on the bar before setting it ablaze with Molotov cocktails .
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