Coatzacoalcos (Mexico) (AFP)

Criminal fire, gunshots of automatic weapons: a settlement of accounts in a striptease bar in the Mexican state of Veracruz has left at least 28 dead and 9 injured, announced Wednesday the authorities.

Eight men burst into the night from Tuesday to Wednesday at the "Caballo Blanco" (White Horse), a nightclub in Coatzacoalcos, a Mexican port city, known for its oil industry, witnesses told AFP.

According to some of them, they fired at the guests and set the house on fire with Molotov cocktails. Others say the abusers poured gas before burning the bar.

In front of the partly charred bar, debris and chairs were visible, AFP noted. The corpse of a dancer lay beside the runway and vertical bars.

On Wednesday morning, during his usual daily press conference, the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, denounced an "inhuman" attack, evoking a settling of accounts against a background of corruption.

This attack took place in one of the most violent areas of Mexico. Due to its location, this state, which borders the Gulf of Mexico, is strategic for drug trafficking to the United States. Veracruz is regularly the scene of kidnappings and extortions on migrants.

The state governor, Cuitlahuac Garcia, said on Twitter that according to the first elements of the investigation into this "deplorable crime", one of the perpetrators was arrested in July before being released 48 hours later by the prosecutor's office. local, which the public prosecutor denied.

- "It's corruption" -

The Mexican president confirmed the news and said his government would ask for a "thorough" investigation into the attacks as well as the links between the Veracruz prosecutor's office and the criminal groups.

"This collusion, this association of criminals between criminals and authorities, if confirmed, is corruption and that's what we must fight," said the head of state, elected last year with an anti-corruption speech.

The federal prosecutor's office and the government of Veracruz have announced that they will carry out operations in the city of Coatzacoalcos, 235,000 inhabitants, without giving more details.

At the time of the attack, "(armed) men arrived in several cars, with assault rifles and handguns, and threatened the guards and took control of the main entrance," said a spokesman. witness, still incredulous.

The families of the employees quickly arrived on the spot to try to have news. "What I want to know is if he's fine," said the mother of a young man in charge of cleaning the bar. She returned to the scene after going to three hospitals in search of her son.

Since 2006 and the government's mobilization of the military to fight cartels, drug-related violence has claimed over 250,000 lives in Mexico. Experts believe that this strategy has resulted in fragmenting these cartels into smaller and more violent criminal cells.

© 2019 AFP