Wave of mayhem leaves 16 dead in Mexico

Mexico City: At least 16 people were killed in the violence that erupted in Mexico's Guerrero state on Monday, authorities informed.

The latest incident took place at a restaurant in Chilpancingo, the state capital, when 15th birthday of a girl was being celebrated.

Three assailants pulled up on a motorcycle, fired shots and then fled, State Public Safety Department confirmed.

A 17-year-old male was pronounced dead at the scene and a 43-year-old man succumbed to injuries later at a hospital. Four other people aged between 16 to 23 suffered injuries, according to a statement.

A series of violence leading to deaths also took place in the recent times when a man was also shot dead on Monday in the coastal town of Zihuatanejo, while a state police car was put on fire in Acapulco.

This latest spell of mayhem began early on Sunday in Acapulco, where two men were shot dead with their hands bound hours before another man was gunned down outside a hotel on the oceanside road.

A taxi driver was fatally shot on the outskirts of the resort city and a burned-out vehicle in the El Coloso development was found to contain a man's mutilated body and the severed head of a woman.

Later on Sunday, one person was killed and another wounded in a clash between Federal Police and gunmen in Acapulco's Santa Cruz neighborhood.

Four other vehicles were set ablaze.

In Zihuatanejo on Sunday, three bodies were found alongside the main road and a man was fatally shot in the Agua de Correa district.

Another cabbie was slain in the colonial city of Taxco and a woman was gunned down in Chilpancingo, while in Tlacoachistlahuca, a passenger was dragged out of a taxi and shot dead.