EIGHT people have been killed and five left injured after two gunmen opened fire at a nightclub in Mexico.
The deadly mass shooting happened in the town of Jerez at the El Ventadito club, sending panicked revellers fleeing.
The shooting at the nightclub left eight people dead
The two heavily armed men arrived at the bar early on Saturday morning and began shooting indiscriminately, according to a report from the Security Secretariat.
Six people died at the scene and another two succumbed to their injuries later.
Five people remained in the hospital with gunshot wounds.
Victims were the club’s employees, musicians and customers, according to local media.
Witnesses said they saw people frantically trying to flee the bar, in the centre of Jerez, 36 miles southwest of the state capital city of Zacatecas.
Jerez has been hit in recent years by a wave of violence that last year forced hundreds of residents of nearby rural communities to leave their homes.
Zacatecas state is a strategic point for the US-bound drug trade, which has sparked violent disputes between the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels.
Earlier this month, a mass grave with 47 sacks containing human remains was discovered underneath the dancefloor of a nightclub in Tenango del Valle.
The grim find believed to be linked to the ruthless Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most violent cartels in the country, was unearthed after the arrest of nine alleged members of the cartel.
