Five teens wounded as gang fires on Mexican school

An armed gang opened fire on a high school in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, wounding five students, prosecutors said.

Witnesses of the attack yesterday said the gunmen arrived at the entrance of the Federalized High School in the state capital Ciudad Victoria and opened fire. They then entered the school and fired more shots.

The five injured students, two females and three males aged 15-18, were given first aid by members of the Red Cross and taken to a hospital across the street from the school. One of the injured is thought to be in a serious condition.

Five people -- three men and two women -- were arrested in a police operation in a neighborhood of the same city following the attack, the state prosecutor's office said.

Police do not know the motive for the shooting but say organized crime groups operating in the state recruit young students as drug dealers.

In other Mexican states affected by drug-related crime such as Baja California Sur, primary school children participate in mock shootings where they learn to protect themselves by playing dead, in the event of being victims of an attack.

Tamaulipas is one of the regions most affected by crime linked to drug trafficking, where armed clashes in public areas between drug gangs are common.