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Summary At least 45 people were killed in an attack on a casino in northern Mexico.
Two dozen gunmen burst into a casino in northern Mexico on Thursday, doused it with gasoline and started a fire that trapped gamblers inside, killing 45 people and injuring a dozen more, authorities said.The fire at the Casino Royale in Monterrey, a city that has seen a surge in drug cartel-related violence, represented one of the deadliest attacks on an entertainment center in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels in late 2006.This is a night of sadness for Mexico, federal security spokesman Alejandro Poire said in a televised address. These unspeakable acts of terror will not go unpunished.Calderon tweeted that the attack was an abhorrent act of terror and barbarism that requires all of us to persevere in the fight against these unscrupulous criminal bands.Nuevo Leon state Attorney General Leon Adrian de la Garza said authorities had located about 40 bodies but we could find more. He said a drug cartel was apparently responsible for the attack. Cartels often extort casinos and other businesses, threatening to attack them or burn them to the ground if they refuse to pay.State police officials quoted survivors as saying armed men burst into the casino, apparently to rob it, and began dousing the premises with fuel from tanks they brought with them. The officials were not authorized to be quoted by name for security reasons. De la Garza said the liquid appeared to be gasoline.Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal said many of the bodies were found inside the casinos bathrooms, where employees and customers had locked themselves to escape the gunmen.It was the second time in three months that the Casino Royale was targeted. Gunmen struck it and three other casinos on May 25, when the gunmen sprayed the Casino Royale with bullets, but no was reported injured in that attack.Last month, gunmen killed 20 people at a bar in Monterrey. The attackers sprayed the bar with rounds from assault rifles, and police later found bags of drugs at the bar.
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