Mexico assails terrorists who kill 52
Source: Agencies |
August 27, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MEXICAN President Felipe Calderon yesterday declared three days of mourning following an arson fire believed to have been set by drug traffickers that killed 52 people in a casino in the northern city of Monterrey.
Calderon said the assailants who set fire to the Casino Royale are "true terrorists who have gone beyond all limits."
Calderon said in a message to the nation that it's "the worst attack against innocent civilians that Mexico has seen in a long time."
A group of at least eight assailants believed to be connected to a drug cartel spread gasoline inside the Casino Royale and set the building on fire on Thursday afternoon, trapping dozens of people inside.
Rescue workers recovered burned bodies, and anxious residents crowded behind yellow police tape yesterday waiting to hear if relatives were among the victims.
Family members arrived at the morgue through the night in Monterrey, a modern metropolis and one of Mexico's most important business centers that has become the target of increasing drug-related violence.
Santiago Loera, 53, came looking for his brother, a cook at another casino who had gone to the Casino Royale to sign a new contract.
So far, 45 of the victims have been identified
Francisco Tamayo, 28, of Monterrey, said he and family members looked at about 40 bodies in search of his mother, Sonia de la Pena, 47, who loved to gamble at the casino and was there on average four days a week. They had yet to find her.
Calderon tweeted that the attack was "an abhorrent act of terror and barbarism" that requires "all of us to persevere in the fight against these unscrupulous criminal bands."
Attorney General Leon Adrian de la Garza said a drug cartel was likely responsible for the attack, though he didn't name which one. Cartels often extort casinos and other businesses, threatening to attack them or burn them if they refuse to pay.
It was the second time in three months that the Casino Royale was targeted. Gunmen struck it and three other casinos on May 25, spraying it with bullets, but no one was injured.
State police officials quoted survivors as saying armed men burst into the casino, apparently to rob it, and began dousing the premises with fuel from tanks they brought with them. The officials were not authorized to be quoted by name for security reasons. De la Garza said the liquid appeared to be gasoline.
With shouts and profanities, the attackers told the customers and employees to get out. But many terrified customers and employees fled further inside the building, where they died trapped amid the flames and thick smoke that soon billowed out of the building.
Calderon said the assailants who set fire to the Casino Royale are "true terrorists who have gone beyond all limits."
Calderon said in a message to the nation that it's "the worst attack against innocent civilians that Mexico has seen in a long time."
A group of at least eight assailants believed to be connected to a drug cartel spread gasoline inside the Casino Royale and set the building on fire on Thursday afternoon, trapping dozens of people inside.
Rescue workers recovered burned bodies, and anxious residents crowded behind yellow police tape yesterday waiting to hear if relatives were among the victims.
Family members arrived at the morgue through the night in Monterrey, a modern metropolis and one of Mexico's most important business centers that has become the target of increasing drug-related violence.
Santiago Loera, 53, came looking for his brother, a cook at another casino who had gone to the Casino Royale to sign a new contract.
So far, 45 of the victims have been identified
Francisco Tamayo, 28, of Monterrey, said he and family members looked at about 40 bodies in search of his mother, Sonia de la Pena, 47, who loved to gamble at the casino and was there on average four days a week. They had yet to find her.
Calderon tweeted that the attack was "an abhorrent act of terror and barbarism" that requires "all of us to persevere in the fight against these unscrupulous criminal bands."
Attorney General Leon Adrian de la Garza said a drug cartel was likely responsible for the attack, though he didn't name which one. Cartels often extort casinos and other businesses, threatening to attack them or burn them if they refuse to pay.
It was the second time in three months that the Casino Royale was targeted. Gunmen struck it and three other casinos on May 25, spraying it with bullets, but no one was injured.
State police officials quoted survivors as saying armed men burst into the casino, apparently to rob it, and began dousing the premises with fuel from tanks they brought with them. The officials were not authorized to be quoted by name for security reasons. De la Garza said the liquid appeared to be gasoline.
With shouts and profanities, the attackers told the customers and employees to get out. But many terrified customers and employees fled further inside the building, where they died trapped amid the flames and thick smoke that soon billowed out of the building.
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