Geo436.com blog: Gunmen storm party, kill 15 youths in Mexico

Geo436 CIUDAD JUAREZ: Gunmen burst into a party early Saturday and shot to death 15 young people and wounded at least 10 others in this Mexican border city”s third massacre this year, police said.

“The victims were in the back yard of the house having a party when hooded men, in dark uniforms and with rifles, arrived in several vans, broke in and began shooting indiscriminately at those inside,” a police official said in this troubled metropolis across the border from the US city of El Paso, Texas.

The young gunmen screamed insults as they opened fired on the crowd, according to witnesses, who told the police the hail of fire went on for five minutes.

“We have an initial toll of 12 dead and more than 10 wounded who have been taken to different hospitals,” the municipal police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

At least four women were among the dead, and a seven-year-old girl was wounded, police said.

Local media reported that the death toll rose to 15 after three people died of their wounds in hospital, and that five other people were in serious condition. The media reports said five women between the ages of 16 and 24 were killed.

The massacre, which bore the chilling hallmarks of a drug cartel attack, began at 1:40 am Saturday.