Eleven family members executed in home in central Mexico

By Natalie Schachar

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Eleven members of the same family, including two children, were killed in the central Mexican state of Puebla when gunmen burst into their home, authorities said on Friday.

Shooters broke into the house in a mountainous area known as Sierra Negra early on Friday morning and killed five women, four men and two girls, before fleeing on foot, according to the state attorney general’s office.

Two other girls with chest and stomach wounds were taken to a hospital in nearby Tehuacan.

Vicente Lopez de la Vega, a mayor from the city of Coxcatlan, said it was not immediately clear if the shooting was the result of a family feud or organized crime.

Violence in the state of Puebla has steadily risen in recent years. The state’s murder rate is on track to be the highest since 2012, with 216 murders in the first four months of the year, according to official data.

(Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Toni Reinhold)