Monterrey, Mexico, Feb 8 (EFE).- Gunmen staged simultaneous attacks on two bars in Monterrey, the largest city in northern Mexico, killing a man and wounding four other people, the Nuevo Leon State Investigations Agency, or AEI, said.
Two gunmen entered the La Paloma bar in the southern section of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon's capital and Mexico's most important industrial city, around 8:00 p.m. and opened fire with assault rifles on patrons and employees.
The bar's owner was killed and three other people, including a woman, were wounded, the AEI said.
The Rooster bar, located less than a kilometer (0.62 miles) away, was attacked at the same time.
Gunmen opened fire from a vehicle on the Rooster bar's front door, destroying it, the AEI said, adding that there were no reports of injuries.
An automobile burst into flames around the same time outside a bar in another section of Monterrey, but officials said it was not clear if it was another attack or just an accident.
About half a dozen bars and cantinas have been attacked in the past year in Monterrey.
An attack in July 2011 on the Sabino Gordo bar left 21 people dead, with officials blaming the killings on a dispute between rival drug cartels.
Monterrey and its suburbs have been battered by a wave of drug-related violence since March 2010, when three rival cartels reportedly went to war with Los Zetas, considered Mexico's most violent criminal organization.
Los Zetas has been battling an alliance of the Gulf, Sinaloa and La Familia drug cartels, known as the Nueva Federacion, for control of the Monterrey metropolitan area and smuggling routes into the United States.
Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, known as "El Lazca," deserted from the Mexican army in 1999 and formed Los Zetas with three other soldiers, all members of an elite special operations unit, becoming the armed wing of the Gulf drug cartel.
After several years on the payroll of the Gulf cartel, Los Zetas, considered Mexico's most violent criminal organization, went into the drug business on their own account and now control several lucrative territories.
Los Zetas has been blamed for several massacres in recent years.
Zetas gunmen set fire to the Casino Royale in Monterrey on Aug. 25, killing 52 gamblers and employees trapped inside, most of whom died of smoke inhalation.
A total of 267 murders were registered in the industrial city in 2009, with the figure rising to 828 in 2010 and nearly 2,000 last year, according to official figures.
Mexico's drug war death toll stood at 47,515 from December 2006 to Sept. 30.
The murder total has grown every year of President Felipe Calderon's military offensive against the well-funded, heavily armed drug cartels.
Unofficial tallies published in December by independent daily La Jornada put the death toll from Mexico's drug war at more than 50,000.
