Armed attackers kill four people in an attack on a Mexican rehabilitation center

Mexico has recorded more than 450,000 murders since December 2006. (AFP photo)

CELAYA: Armed assailants attacked a drug rehabilitation center in Mexico, killing four people and wounding five others, local authorities said yesterday.

The attack took place on Tuesday evening in Salamanca in the central state of Guanajuato, the municipal government said in a statement.

Police and national guards “initiated a pursuit to find those responsible,” but the attackers escaped by throwing metal spikes to puncture the tires of the pursuing security forces, the report said.

Police said three bodies of the dead were found at the rehabilitation center, while a fourth was found on the street.

No suspects have been arrested yet.

Disputes between drug gangs have led to drug rehabilitation centers being targeted in several attacks in Mexico.

Authorities say some drug rehabilitation centers are used as safe havens by suspected members of criminal groups, who are attacked by their rivals when found.

Guanajuato is Mexico’s most violent state, according to official homicide statistics, due to fighting between the local Santa Rosa de Lima cartel and the powerful Jalisco New Generation.

Mexico has recorded more than 450,000 murders since December 2006, when a controversial military anti-drug operation was launched.