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2011-08-26 Caribbean-Latin America
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Mayhem in Monterrey: 53 die in casino assault -- UPDATED
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For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo leon, click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here
Second casino was hit in Saltillio, Coahuila
By Chris Covert
At least 53 individuals were killed in a casino in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Thursday afternoon in a small arms and launched grenade attack, according to Mexican news reports.
The attack on Casino Royale started at around 1545 hrs when 12 armed suspects entered the casino, splashed gasoline, then used small arms and grenade launchers to set the building on fire.
According to Milenio news daily, witnesses said they heard bursts of small arms fire and then explosions. Reports say 11 died in the initial explosion.
Late reports say emergency exits were locked, and that most of the dead were collateral damage from the fire and smoke.
Reports as of 0015 Friday morning say dozens of individuals were still trapped inside the burning building.
A report by the leftist weekly Proceso say rescue agents were forced to close a street in order to deploy heavy equipment to knock a hole in the wall to locate and rescue possible survivors.
News reports say one person was wounded in a similar attack on a second casino in an area north of Saltillio, Coahuila by armed suspects using explosives and small arms fire. The Casino Caliente is near the intersection of Periferico Luis Echeverria Alvarez and La Fragua in the Dorada colony north of Saltillo. The casino is owned by the Grupo Caliente, headed by controversial Mexican businessman Jorge Hank Rhon.
Today's attack in Monterrey is the highest single event mass casualty attack so far this summer in Nuevo Leon. A total of 21 individuals were shot to death in an assault on a bar in Monterrey near Zona Centro in Monterrey in early July. In that attack reports say the issue was retail drug sales between rival criminal groups. In that attack, at the El Sabino Gordo bar, reports indicated gunfire may have been exchanged between rival gang members at the scene.
To read the Rantburg report on the El Sabino Gordo bar massacre, click here
Monterrey city administrators have been cracking down on unlicensed bars and restaurants since late last spring, when a number of them have been closed. The same problem exists with casinos.
Casinos have also been the focus of armed robberies. Late last May four casinos were robbed in rapid succession, including the Casino Royale. All four were said to have been operating without a license.
To read the Rantburg report on the four casino robberies last May, click here
Thursday's attack has the earmarks of a Los Zetas attack. Los Zetas often make lavish use of 40mm grenades launched from under the barrel launchers attacked to AR-15 assault rifles or from dedicated launchers, dubbed "thump guns" by US soldiers.
Los Zetas have been since last spring under tremendous pressure from cartel alliances commissioned by the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels, especially in Zacatecas in the north central area of Mexico and in Nuevo Leon, and they have taken severe losses from attacks from rivals as well as from Mexican security forces.
A recent expansion of the Mexican Army has deployed as many as 18 rifle battalions to northern regions, especially in key points such as Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, which is east of Nuevo Leon, Torreon, Coahuila, which sits astride an important east-west artery and in Chihuahua state, where the security situation has dramatically improved.
It is possible that the increased federal security at the US border may have forced drug cartels to resort to domestic drug sales to generate cash. 
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Posted by badanov 2011-08-26 00:00||
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2011-08-26 21:32||
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