attack at maxico casino in drug violence

MONTERREY, Mexico -- Mexicans have endured plenty of horrific crimes during their country's bloody five-year war against drug gangs, but an arson attack that killed at least 52 people has set a shocking new low for many in this battle-hardened country.
The victims this time weren't cartel foot soldiers or migrants resisting forced recruitment by gangs, as were the cases in other attacks. Instead, they were working or gambling at the Casino Royale in an affluent part of this industrial city Thursday when at least eight assailants burst into the building and set it on fire, trapping dozens inside.
Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal said many of the bodies were found inside the casino's bathrooms, where employees and customers had locked themselves to escape the gunmen.
In an act of desperation, authorities commandeered backhoes from a nearby construction site to break into the casino's walls to try to reach the people trapped inside.
Maria Tomas Navarro, 42, stood weeping at the edge of the police tape stretched in front of the smoke-stained casino building. She was hoping for word of her brother, 25-year-old Genaro Navarro Vega, who had worked in the casino's bingo area.

"This is a night of sadness for Mexico," federal security spokesman Alejandro Poire said in a televised address. "These unspeakable acts of terror will not go unpunished."
Calderon tweeted that the attack was "an abhorrent act of terror and barbarism" that requires "all of us to persevere in the fight against these unscrupulous criminal bandsWith shouts and profanities, the attackers told the customers and employees to get out. But many terrified customers and employees fled further inside the building, where they died trapped amid the flames and thick smoke that soon billowed out of the building.

Workers continuing to remove bodies well into the night.

Mexican government officials report that at least 52 people were killed in a crazy attack at a casino in an upscale area of Monterrey, Mexico. Reports also said that eight others were injured in the Thursday afternoon attack, the Red Cross said.
Some on the scene witnesses told investigators that up to six people entered the Casino Royale and asked for the manager, according Adrian de la Garza, the state attorney general for Nuevo Leon.
When the manager refused, they set the building on fire, he said.
It’s believed a solvent was used to start the blaze, possibly gasoline, de la Garza said.
Meanwhile, authorities in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, of which Monterrey is the capital, released a video showing how armed men arrived in three vehicles and were carrying what appeared to be gallons of gasoline.