Buenos Aires, 18 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Twelve people have been killed in an attack by armed assailants on an Advent celebration in the centre of Mexico, according to the public prosecutor's office.

Around a dozen others were injured when the attackers opened fire on the revellers in the town of Salvatierra in the state of Guanajuato, the municipal authorities said on Sunday.

The so-called Posadas, in which the biblical search for shelter by Mary and Joseph is re-enacted in the run-up to Christmas, were being celebrated, according to media reports.

The motive for the attack was unclear.

Guanajuato was recently the state with the highest number of homicides in Mexico. The drug cartels Santa Rosa de Lima and Jalisco Nueva Generación are at loggerheads in the major industrial region in the centre of the country.

A wave of violence has been raging in Mexico for years.

Last year, there were 31,936 homicides per 126 million inhabitants.

Numerous drug cartels and other criminal groups are fighting for control of areas of influence and smuggling routes.

They often maintain links to corrupt politicians and security forces.

Most homicides are never solved.

Photo: X screenshot