MEXICO CITY, March 28, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Nineteen people were shot and 
killed in central Mexico on Sunday, the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) 
said in a statement.

Authorities were called to the scene at around 10:30 pm (0430 GMT Monday) 
following reports of an attack on a venue often used for hosting illegal 
betting on cockfights in the town of Las Tinajas, Michoacan state.

"19 lifeless bodies were found (16 men and three women), who had gunshot 
wounds," the FGE said.

Several others were injured and had been sent to hospital, it added.

Federal authorities are working "with the aim of capturing those responsible 
for the violent acts," the office of Michoacan's secretary of public security 
said.

Authorities did not give a reason for the shooting.

But Michoacan and neighbouring Guanajuato are two of Mexico's most violent 
states, due to turf wars between rival gangs involved in drug trafficking and 
other illegal activities -- including trade in stolen fuel.

Michoacan is also the world's biggest avocado-producing region and threats 
against a US inspector working there last month prompted the United States to 
suspend Mexican exports of the fruit for more than a week.

Last month, an armed attack in the state believed to be the result of a gang 
dispute was reported to have killed up to 17 people at a wake.

The attack was believed to be motivated by "revenge" by one cell of the 
Jalisco New Generation Cartel against another, deputy security minister 
Ricardo Mejia said.

The government said it was unable to confirm the death toll because no bodies 
were found, although DNA samples of 11 possible victims were collected at the 
site.

Mexico has been trapped in a spiral of cartel-related violence since 2006, 
when the government launched a controversial anti-drug operation with federal 
troops. 

There have been more than 340,000 murders since then, most of them blamed on 
fighting between criminals, according to official figures.

Earlier this month gunmen killed nine people in an attack on a house in 
central Mexico, in an "execution" of six men and three women that shook a 
middle-class area of the usually peaceful town of Atlixco.

Puebla state governor Miguel Barbosa said that the attack had been on "a 
place for the sale and distribution of drugs" and that the victims' 
identities were unknown.