Wave of mayhem leaves 16 dead in Mexico

Violence in the Mexico's Guerrero state has left 16 people dead in the last 24 hours, authorities said on Monday.

The latest incident took place at a restaurant in Chilpancingo, the state capital, during a party for a young woman marking her 15th birthday.

Three assailants pulled up on a motorcycle, fired shots and then fled, Efe quoted the state Public Safety Department as saying.

A 17-year-old male was pronounced dead at the scene and a 43-year-old man died later at a hospital. Four other people ranging in age from 16 to 23 were wounded, according to a statement.

A man was also fatally shot on Monday in the coastal town of Zihuatanejo, while a state police car was set ablaze in Acapulco.

This latest spell of mayhem began early on Sunday in Acapulco, where two men were shot dead with their hands bound hours before another man was gunned down outside a hotel on the oceanside road.

A taxi driver was fatally shot on the outskirts of the resort city and a burned-out vehicle in the El Coloso development was found to contain a man's mutilated body and the severed head of a woman.

Later on Sunday, one person was killed and another wounded in a clash between Federal Police and gunmen in Acapulco's Santa Cruz neighborhood.

Four other vehicles were set on fire.

In Zihuatanejo on Sunday, three bodies were found alongside the main road leading to the international airport and a man was fatally shot in the Agua de Correa district.

Another cabbie was slain in the colonial city of Taxco and a woman was gunned down in Chilpancingo, while in Tlacoachistlahuca, a passenger was dragged out of a taxi and shot dead.

--IANS

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