Nine people are dead and another was seriously injured after gunmen attacked and killed men traveling aboard a pickup truck in the municipality of Bacalar, Quintana Roo, on Wednesday morning.

When police arrived at the scene of the shooting on the Chetumal-Felipe Carrillo Puerto highway near the community of Limones, they found two bodies in the truck, while the rest were lying on and around the highway.

Two people were transported to a hospital in Bacalar with serious injuries, one of whom later died.

According to witnesses, the aggressors were traveling in a grey pickup truck.

There have been 20 murders in Bacalar in recent days, 12 of which were near Limones, where rival criminal gangs have been vying for control of the drug trade in the region.

Last Thursday, gunmen murdered Juan Alberto Interian May, who was identified as the leader of a drug trafficking gang operating in the area.

Bacalar has become a center for the movement of drugs smuggled by air from Central and South America, said a report today by the newspaper Al Momento. Cartels operating in the state have established themselves in communities in the municipality.

The drug shipments are destined for the domestic market and the United States.

Source: Noticaribe (sp), Al Momento (sp)