Journalist, cartel leader among six dead in western Mexican bar shooting

Six people were killed, including a journalist and a leader of the infamous drug cartel Los Zetas, in a shooting rampage Thursday in the city of Orizaba in Veracruz, western Mexico, local authority said.

The attack took place in the early hours of Thursday inside a bar named La Taberna in the center of the city after five assailants entered the bar and began firing, according to the state's prosecutor.

It is not immediately known which group the attackers belong to.

The dead included Juan Heriberto Santos Carrera, a journalist who worked for Televisa Veracruz, and Jose Marquez Balderas, also known as "El Chichi," who was identified as a leader of Los Zetas, which is considered by the U.S. government to be the most dangerous cartel in Mexico.

According to witnesses, two other journalists from the local newspaper, El Buen Tono, were also in the bar when the shooting started but it seemed that the assailants spared them.

Local police officers were caught up in a shootout with the attackers as they attempted to stop the attackers from fleeing but failed. The attackers eventually succeeded in getting away after the shootout, while two of the police officers were injured in the gunfire. Enditem