Update: Police investigating a mass shooting in Mexico's Michoacan state that left 20 people dead say the gunmen staged their ambush by hiding in a fish-and-chips van, reports the BBC. The assailants drove to a ranch that was home to an illegal cockfighting ring in a food van that was stolen last week, say authorities, who blame a gang rivalry. "It was a massacre of one group by another," says Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Our original story from Monday follows:
Gunmen burst into a clandestine cockfight and opened fire, killing 20 people and wounding six, prosecutors in Mexico's western state of Michoacan said Monday. Three women were among the dead after the attack late Sunday near the town of Zinapecuaro. Prosecutors said drug cartels and other criminal gangs had been fighting in the area, the AP reports. "There are indications that the attack involved a confrontation between criminal groups," the federal Public Safety Department said in a statement. It added that a team of federal investigators had been sent to the scene.
Michoacan has been the site of a longstanding turf battle between local cartels and the Jalisco cartel, from the neighboring state of Jalisco. The fighting has included the use of bomb-dropping drones, landmines, and homemade armored cars. Cockfighting, while illegal in many areas, remains a popular pastime in parts of Mexico, though the fights are usually held clandestinely. Soldiers have been deployed to find the people responsible for the attack, per the BBC.
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