- Title: Mexico convulsed by second mass shooting in two days
- Date: 16th October 2019
- Summary: BLOOD ON ROAD
- Embargoed: 30th October 2019 17:22
- Keywords: shootout gunfight Mexico violence drugs Lopez Obrador
- Location: MEXICO CITY / IGUALA, GUERRERO, MEXICO
- City: MEXICO CITY / IGUALA, GUERRERO, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA002B1CLNWN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A gunfight between security forces and armed civilians in Mexico's southwestern state of Guerrero killed 15 people on Tuesday (October 15), authorities said, the second mass killing to shake the country in as many days.
Guerrero state public security spokesman Roberto Alvarez said 14 civilians and one soldier died in the shootout in the municipality of Tepochica, near Iguala, a city notorious for the 2014 disappearances of 43 student teachers.
A battered pick-up truck had been riddled with bullets as security forces patrolled the area.
Defending his security strategy after suspected cartel gunmen killed 13 police a day earlier in the neighbouring western state of Michoacan, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blamed past administrations for Mexico's chronic violence.
However, the latest carnage is likely to increase pressure on Lopez Obrador to get a grip on a problem he pledged to tackle when he took office last December.
Guerrero and Michoacan are two of Mexico's most violent and lawless states, where rival drug gangs have battled to control smuggling routes to the Pacific and interior of the country.
(Production: Roberto Ramirez, Gerardo Torres, Manuel Carrillo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: WARNING: Editors please note, this clip contains graphic material
