A security member stands guard near a nightclub after it was set on fire in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, Aug. 28, 2019. The death toll has reached 26 after a bar was set on fire in eastern Mexico, the state prosecutor general's office said on Wednesday. (Photo by Angel Hernandez/Xinhua)
MEXICO CITY, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The death toll has reached 26 after a bar was set on fire in eastern Mexico, the state prosecutor general's office said on Wednesday.
Another 11 people were injured in the massacre at the Caballo Blanco Bar in the city of Coatzacoalcos, a coastal city in the eastern state of Veracruz, at around 10:15 p.m. local time Tuesday.
Assailants set fire to the bar, then closed the emergency exit to trap those inside. Most of the fatal victims, including 10 women, died from asphyxiation.
Veracruz Governor Cuitlahuac Garcia condemned the attack, saying federal investigators are cooperating with state authorities.
Veracruz has been riven by violence since mid-2016, as drug trafficking rings using state ports to ship drugs abroad battle each other for the local trade.
In April, members of a criminal ring killed 14 people at a family gathering in the oil city of Minatitlan, next to Coatzacoalcos, in a revenge attack against the owner of two bars used by rival drug dealers, according to a police report.
