At least 25 killed in 'horrendous' arson attack on bar in Mexico

At least 25 people were killed in an arson attack by suspected gang members on a bar in the southeastern Mexican port of Coatzacoalcos late on Tuesday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said. Calling the attack "horrendous," Lopez Obrador told a regular morning news conference on Wednesday that the deaths occurred after the suspected gangsters closed the emergency exits of the bar in Coatzacoalcos and set fire to it.

The attorney general's office of the state of Veracruz said overnight that eight women and 15 men died in the fire at the "Caballo Blanco" bar, and 13 people who were seriously wounded were hospitalized for treatment. The attack was one of the worst mass killings since the veteran leftist Lopez Obrador took office in December pledging to pacify Mexico by battling corruption and inequality.