Gunmen attacked a bar in Mexico’s southeastern state of Tabasco early Sunday, killing six people and wounding at least five others, marking the latest incident in a surge of violence spreading to previously peaceful regions of the country.
The assault in Villahermosa, Tabasco’s capital, prompted Public Safety Secretary Omar García Harfuch to announce on social media platform X that federal authorities had joined local officials in investigating the crime. No arrests have been reported, and authorities have not revealed a potential motive for the attack.
Social media videos captured the chaos as patrons fled the establishment, while some remained behind with victims until police arrived at the scene. The incident follows a pattern of escalating violence in Tabasco, a coastal state traditionally less affected by cartel activity than other regions.
The shooting comes just weeks after another deadly bar attack in Querétaro, central Mexico, where gunmen killed 10 people and injured 13 in the city’s historic center. That incident particularly alarmed authorities as it occurred in an area long considered immune to the violence plaguing neighboring states like Guerrero.
These attacks represent mounting challenges for Mexico’s incoming administration, which inherits a security crisis that has increasingly spread beyond traditional hotspots to affect previously stable regions of the country.
