Gunmen kill 11 Football fans after match in Central Mexico

Gunmen have opened fire on football fans in central Mexico, killing no fewer than 11 people and injuring 12 others in an attack linked to the country’s worsening organised crime violence.

The shooting occurred on Sunday at a community football field in Salamanca, a city of about 160,000 residents in Guanajuato State, shortly after the conclusion of a local match.

Local authorities said armed assailants stormed the venue and began shooting indiscriminately at spectators. Ten victims died instantly at the scene, while another later succumbed to injuries in hospital. Among the injured were a woman and a child.

Salamanca Mayor, Cesar Prieto, condemned the attack and appealed to the Mexican federal government to urgently intervene to restore peace and security in the city.

“We are going through a grave moment — a serious social breakdown. Criminal groups are attempting to overpower the authorities,” Prieto said, blaming the violence on organised crime syndicates.

The deadly attack came amid a wave of violence in the area. Authorities confirmed that four bags containing human remains were discovered in Salamanca on Saturday night. In two neighbouring communities, six other people were killed on the same day.

Last week, a bomb threat was also reported at a refinery operated by Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, in Salamanca.

Guanajuato, located in central Mexico, is a major industrial hub and home to several tourist destinations. However, it has become Mexico’s deadliest state, driven largely by violent clashes between rival criminal gangs, according to official homicide data.

Much of the bloodshed has been linked to a long-running turf war between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang, known for oil theft, and the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Security agencies have launched a manhunt for those responsible for the attack.

Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum recently claimed that the country’s homicide rate fell to its lowest level in a decade in 2025, attributing the decline to her administration’s security strategy. However, several security analysts have questioned the credibility of the figures.

Since the federal government launched a major crackdown on drug cartels in 2006, criminal violence has claimed more than 480,000 lives across Mexico. Over 120,000 people are officially listed as missing, with many believed to have been kidnapped or forcibly recruited by criminal groups.