MEXICO CITY — Gunmen shot up a bar and then threw in firebombs, killing three men and two women in the northern border city of Ciudad Juárez, an official said Saturday.
The deaths came a day after a shooting attack on another bar in the city caused 10 deaths.
A motive had not been determined, and it was unclear if the victims died of bullet wounds, burns or smoke inhalation, Chihuahua state prosecutors’ spokesman Arturo Sandoval said. He said the bodies were charred by the fire started by the gasoline bombs at the Barritas bar late Friday. Sandoval said police found .223-caliber shell casings at the scene, a type frequently used by gunmen for drug gangs.
About 6,000 people have died in drug-cartel turf battles the past two years in Ciudad Juárez, which sits across the border from El Paso.
About 24 hours before the bloodshed at the Barritas bar, three carloads of gunmen attacked the El Castillo bar in Ciudad Juárez, killing 10 people. Authorities said at least 130 shots were fired.
On Saturday, the government reported that 8,898 bodies have been left unidentified since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels in late 2006, although the total included deaths from all causes and not just violence. Drug violence has been blamed for more than 34,000 deaths since late 2006.
