Mexico drug gang shootout kills 2 near Cancun

The state of Quintana Roo's attorney general's office said on Thursday that rival gunmen from competing gangs had faced off on a beach in Puerto Morelos, and that two had been killed.

The news was announced a few hours after reports of a shooting near upscale hotels popular with foreign tourists started to circulate on social media.

What did authorities say happened?

It is the latest episode in a series of drug gang violence incidents that have tarnished the once-tranquil image of Mexico's popular Caribbean coast.

Police had earlier reported that a group of armed men carrying long guns had been seen in the area of the Azul Beach hotel.

A group of gunmen was thought to have arrived by boat in pursuit of the men who were killed in what another Mexican official said appeared to have been a targeted "execution."

In a tweet, the attorney general's office said there were no other serious injuries.

Guests at nearby hotels posted videos and photos of tourists hiding or nervously gathering in lobbies as the incident unfolded. 

String of drugs-linked attacks

Mexican security forces last month attended what appears to have been a similar incident in Tulum, a popular resort some 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Cancun.

Two foreign tourists — a California travel blogger and a German tourist  — were caught up in the shootout and died.

That gunfight apparently broke out between two groups that operate street-level drug sales in the area, prosecutors said.

The situation in Quintana Roo state, where the resorts are located, appears to have started to spin out of control months ago.

Two men were also shot to death on the beach in Tulum in June, and a third was wounded.

In October, police in the resort of Playa del Carmen — between Cancun and Tulum — staged a raid detaining 26 suspects, apparently for drug sales.

That came after a policewoman there was shot to death and locked in the trunk of a car.

rc/msh (Reuters, AP, AFP)