At least 17 people have been killed and 18 others injured when suspected drug hitmen stormed a party in the northern Mexican city of Torreon.

Gunmen in five SUVs drove up to the party early in the morning on Sunday in Torreon suburb, the city in Coahuila state across from Texas, and started shooting everything that was moving, Coahuila's prosecutor's office said.

Witnesses reported hearing gang members yell "kill them all" before they opened fire, AP quoted the state police department as saying.

Investigators have no suspects or information on a possible motive yet.

The attack, one of the deadliest attacks in the country's drug war, comes days after a drug gang detonated a car bomb in Ciudad Juarez late Thursday, killing four people in the first attack of its kind in Mexico's drug war.

In May, gunmen killed 8 people in a bar in Torreon. Later that month, a television station, and the offices of a local newspaper were blown up.

According to officials, 24,800 people have so far been killed in drug gang violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels in December 2006, deploying soldiers and federal police to fight traffickers in their strongholds.

The government attributes much of the rise in violence to infighting among drug gangs whose leadership has been splintered after the arrest of kingpins.

MH/MGH/HRF

Source: Press TV