13 dead in Mexican car wash shootings

At least 13 people were killed today after gunmen opened fire at a car wash in western Mexico, officials said.

The gunmen drove up to the car wash in the state capital of Tepic and opened fire unprovoked, according to the Nayarit state Attorney General’s Office.

The official said between 13 and 15 people were killed and at least two others were injured in the incident. The motive was not immediately clear.

President Felipe Calderon, speaking at a forum in security just as news of the massacre was emerging, called for a minute of silence for the victims but did not offer any details.

He also called the moment of silence for the victims of two other massacres that have occurred in Mexico since Friday: an attack on a birthday party that killed 14 young people in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, and a shooting at a drug rehab centre in Tijuana that killed 13 recovering addicts.

The three attacks did not appear to be related. Such mass shootings have become increasingly common in Mexico, where drug-gang violence has surged in recent years.

Authorities did not say who might be behind the attack in Tepic, but drug gangs were blamed in the first two massacres.