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Five shot dead in Tabasco bar amid holiday celebrations

Published:Tuesday | September 17, 2019 | 12:13 AM
Revellers celebrate as fireworks explode over the Metropolitan Cathedral after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gave the annual independence shout from the balcony of the National Palace to kick off Independence Day celebrations in Mexico City late  on Sunday, September 15. Every year the Mexican president marks the ‘Grito de Dolores,’ commemorating the 1810 call to arms by priest Miguel Hidalgo that began the struggle for independence from Spain, achieved in 1821.
Revellers celebrate as fireworks explode over the Metropolitan Cathedral after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gave the annual independence shout from the balcony of the National Palace to kick off Independence Day celebrations in Mexico City late on Sunday, September 15. Every year the Mexican president marks the ‘Grito de Dolores,’ commemorating the 1810 call to arms by priest Miguel Hidalgo that began the struggle for independence from Spain, achieved in 1821.

MEXICO CITY (AP) :

Gunmen shot dead five people at a bar in southeastern Mexico on the night the country celebrated Independence Day, authorities said Monday.

The prosecutor’s office in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco said in a statement that the victims were all adult males, three of them brothers. It added that the attack took place in Rio Tinto, outside the state capital of Villahermosa.

The federal Department of Security and Citizen Protection had said previously that the shootings happened in Villahermosa. The department reported that three people were also wounded.

Prosecutors did not give further details but said they were exploring all lines of investigation.

Mexicans marked the holiday across the country Sunday night with reenactments of the ‘Cry of Dolores’, priest Miguel Hidalgo’s 1810 call to arms that launched the war of independence.

Fireworks injury

In Veracruz, which neighbors Tabasco, a fireworks explosion injured multiple people gathered at the state capital Xalapa’s main square.

Video posted by the El Universal newspaper showed the blast apparently originating atop city hall, showering glowing embers on to the plaza.

State civil defence authorities said four people suffered minor burns and two were hospitalised.