Gunmen targeting powerful cartel in Mexico kill 11 people in hotel and bar attacks

Eleven people were killed and five others were wounded after gang members launched simultaneous attacks at a hotel and two bars in search of members of a rival cartel in Mexico.

Witnesses told authorities that about 15 armed men stepped out of several vehicles and started shooting at the three businesses around 10pm Monday in the city of Celaya, in the central Mexico state of Guanajuato.

The gang members, who reportedly belong to Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, entered the Gala Hotel, which has a bar at the street level, and shot at the customers and employees inside, police said.

The attackers also tossed Molotov cocktail bombs inside the two bars before they escaped.  

At least 15 gunmen were reportedly sent by the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel  to the Hotel Gala in Celaya, Mexico, where they killed four people at the hotel and seven others at a bar next door on Monday night

Eleven people, including eight women, were killed and five others were wounded by cartel gunmen who unleashed simultaneous attacks at a hotel and two bars Monday night in Celaya, a city in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato

A male body lies inside one of the bars that was shot up and torched by cartel gunmen on Monday night in Celaya, Mexico

The hotel and bar attacks that left 11 people dead and five others wounded were reportedly plotted by the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (C.S.R.L) in Celaya, Mexico, on Monday night. The attackers left behind a cardboard with a message in Spanish that read: ‘This happened to me for supporting those f****** Jaliscans and for being involved with the three bodies in the bag.’ Hours before the attack, authorities discovered three dismembered bodies inside a bag that had been dumped on a street

Two men and two women were killed in the hotel bar assault while five women and a man died as a result of the attack at a bar across the street. A woman was pronounced dead at a local hospital. 

The female victims were employees of the hotel and bars. 

Authorities had not revealed the identities of the victims as of Tuesday.

According to pieces of cardboard left behind at the hotel, the assault was allegedly orchestrated by the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel and targeted members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

It also made reference to three bodies that were found inside bags hours before the deadly assault took place.

The body of one of the 11 people killed by cartel gunmen seeking rivals was found on the sidewalk near a hotel and two bars that were shot up and bombed in the central Mexican municipality of Celaya on Monday night

A male individual’s body lies inside a hotel or bar where 11 people were killed Monday night

The municipality of Celaya has been engulfed by an ongoing turf battle between the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel for access to stolen fuel and drug trade dating back to 2017.

Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel leader José ‘El Marro’ Yépez survived multiple assassination attempts ordered by his archrival, Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera.

Yépez was eventually captured by Mexican security forces in the Guanajuato city of Juventino Rosas on August 2, 2020.

Oseguera, a former associate of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, remains at large and is wanted by the United States government. A $10 million bounty is being offered for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.