(Tijuana) An armed attack against amateur car rally drivers left 10 dead and 9 injured on Saturday in Ensenada, a city in northern Mexico near the border with the United States, a massacre linked to organized crime according to the prosecution.
Participants in an off-road race were parked at the edge of a highway when several men, getting out of a van, fired in their direction, according to the municipality.
The attack “left nine injured and ten dead,” she said in a statement.
Baja California, on which Ensenada depends, is particularly affected by violence linked to drug trafficking.
It is one of the Mexican states with the highest number of intentional homicides, mostly attributed to the war between gangs belonging to organized crime. Between January and April, 721 murders were counted there, according to official data.
Videos posted on social media showed the bodies of victims of the Ensenada killing strewn on a dusty pavement next to 4x4s.
In a statement obtained by AFP, prosecutor Ricardo Ivan Carpio said a van abandoned by the attackers was found at the scene, stained with blood inside and bearing bullet holes.
Clues to say that it is “a confrontation between alleged criminals who clashed with shooting during the event”, he said. Investigations are continuing to establish the exact motive for the confrontation.
Among the injured, some were taken care of by the Red Cross before being transferred to hospitals in the city.
Baja California, with its desert expanses, is a mecca for all-terrain vehicle racing involving drivers from all over the world. One of the most famous is the “Baja 1000” rally-raid.
Mexico, mired in a spiral of violence, has registered more than 400,000 dead and tens of thousands missing since the launch of a military anti-drug offensive in 2006, supported by the United States.
Sport is not spared. On May 15, six people, including three minors, were killed in an armed attack on supporters of a soccer match organized by a family in Pachuca, in the state of Hidalgo (center).