…as gunmen storm football game, kill 11 as World Cup Nears.
Salamanca, Mexico – The iNews Times, reports that a deadly attack on a community football match in central Mexico that left at least 11 people dead has reignited fears over security in one of the host nations of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, scheduled to kick off in June and co-hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The massacre occurred on Sunday in Loma de Flores, near the city of Salamanca in Guanajuato State, where football is promoted as a tool to steer young people away from drug cartels and criminal violence.
“We no longer know where to find peace,” said Norma Barron, one of the organisers of the local football league targeted in the attack.
Barron said the match, which drew families and residents from the community, was nearing its end when armed men stormed the pitch in at least three vehicles and opened fire.
Local and federal authorities confirmed that 11 people were killed, while at least 10 others – including a woman and a minor – sustained gunshot wounds.
Barron, who was in the southern state of Oaxaca at the time, said her adult son, who attended the game, called her moments after the shooting began.
“He told me, ‘They’re attacking people, there are several dead, we’re taking cover,’” she recalled during an interview at the blood-stained football field on Monday.
Residents said the shooting lasted between 15 and 20 minutes, leaving behind scattered clothing, abandoned vehicles, empty beer cans and candles lit in memory of the victims.
Among those killed were at least five members of a private security company hired to protect the venue and ensure attendees were unarmed.
A federal security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the guards were believed to be the primary targets because of alleged links between their employer and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The attackers were suspected to be members of the rival Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, which is locked in a violent struggle with the CJNG over fuel theft, drug trafficking and extortion rackets in Guanajuato.
Cardboard messages left at the scene reportedly alluded to an ongoing feud between the two criminal groups.
The attack has once again highlighted the intensity of cartel violence in Guanajuato, a major industrial hub that also ranks as Mexico’s deadliest state, according to official homicide data.
Although President Claudia Sheinbaum has claimed progress in reducing national murder rates since taking office in October 2024 – now reportedly at their lowest level in a decade – violence in Guanajuato remains stubbornly high.
The state’s homicide rate stands at 38.84 per 100,000 people, more than double the national average, and has been marked by repeated mass-casualty attacks at social and entertainment venues.
In December 2023, 11 people were killed at a Christmas party in the state, while a shooting at a swimming pool in April of the same year left six dead.
In response to the latest attack, Guanajuato Governor Libia Garcia announced on Monday the launch of a joint security operation involving state and federal forces in the affected area.
The massacre comes as Mexico prepares to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, intensifying scrutiny of security arrangements in regions plagued by cartel violence.
