Government says drug gang suspected in attack
At least 17 people were killed and 18 injured when gunmen opened fire at a birthday party in the Mexican city of Torreón on Sunday. Witnesses told local media the gunmen were traveling in a convoy of eight cars and fired indiscriminately into the crowd when the attack started at 1:30 a.m. before escaping. The government said the attack appeared to be the work of a drug gang, but officials had not determined the official motive for the attack as of late Sunday. Among the dead was the birthday honoree, a man whose name was only given as Mota by the local media. Mota is the Mexican slang word for marijuana. Torreón, in the state of Coahuila, which borders Texas, has become a battleground in Mexican president Felipe Calderón’s drug war as a transit point to the United States. Nearly 25,000 people have been killed since Calderón began his war on drug gangs in December 2006.