n armed group murdered 11 members of the same family in the town of Coxcatlan in the central Mexican state of Puebla early on Friday, local authorities announced.

The 11 victims include five women, four men and two girls, who had met in two houses of the mountainous village in the southeast of the state, on the border with the state of Oaxaca.

Preliminary reports from Coxcatlan police showed that just after midnight on Friday morning, armed persons forced their way into the homes and opened fire. according to .

Another two girls aged four survived the attack, but one was shot in the chest and another in the stomach, the mayor of Coxcatlan, Vicente Lopez de la Vega, told a press conference.

He added that no motive was currently known for the crime although the family reportedly had earlier clashes with inhabitants of a neighboring community over a difference of religious faith.

However, the mayor said no information linked this disagreement to the crime.

Emergency services quickly took the two wounded children to the general hospital of Tehuacan, a nearby town. At least 20 forensic analysts from the state of Puebla arrived on the scene on Friday morning to look for crime evidence

source : xinhua