Gunmen in Mexico kill 22 as FIFA tournament opens

Monterrey: At least 22 people were killed in a string of attacks in Mexico, authorities said, including a shooting at a bar in Monterrey just hours after the opening of soccer’s Under-17 World Cup.

Gunmen stormed the bar in Mexico’s third largest city late Saturday and “executed three people,” wounded another, and kidnapped a security guard at the bar who was later found dead, an official of Nuevo Leon state’s investigation agency told AFP.

Four other people, 18-25 years old, were killed yesterday morning in Guadalupe, a city adjacent to Monterrey.

“The victims were gathering in front of one of their homes when armed men showed up in several vehicles and shot them,” the official said.

Monterrey is one of the host cities for FIFA’s Under-17 football tournament and it held two matches on its opening day Saturday: France-Argentina and Japan-Jamaica.

The relatively prosperous industrial hub of northern Mexico, home to several foreign companies, was until recently considered a near-safe haven as drug violence increased in many parts of the country.