Death toll from shooting in Mexican Caribbean resort city rises to 7

Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Jan 7 (epa-efe).- The death toll from a shooting at a bar in the Mexican Caribbean resort city of Playa del Carmen has risen to seven, state prosecutors said Monday.

Six people were pronounced dead at the scene and a seventh person died at a hospital, the Quintana Roo Attorney General's Office said.

The AG's office said no tourists were among the victims of the shooting, which took place in a poor neighborhood in this tourist resort.

So far, officials have not released additional details about the number of people wounded and no arrests have been made.

Two gunmen entered the Virginias bar around 8:00 pm Sunday and opened fire with large-caliber arms.

The gunmen left the bar and escaped in a vehicle.

The shooting was similar to one on Jan. 16, 2017, at the Blue Parrot club, where six people were killed and 15 others wounded in Playa del Carmen during an electronic music festival.

Officials blamed that shooting on a dispute between drug traffickers.

Unlike the shooting at the Blue Parrot, which is in a hotel and restaurant district, the Virginias bar is on the outskirts of the city and frequented mostly by locals.

Since 2017, drug-related violence has plagued a large part of the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, which welcomes tens of thousands of tourists each year and generates huge amounts of hard currency for Mexico.

Officials blame the violence on a turf war involving the Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel, the Los Zetas cartel and other gangs that want to control the illegal drug trade in the region.