Twelve individuals are shot dead in a bar in Mexico.

Authorities in Mexico are looking for the shooters who opened fire in a club in central Mexico on Saturday night, killing at least 12 people and injuring three more. 

At around 8 o'clock local time on Saturday, gunfire were heard at a pub in the city of Irapuato in the central state of Guanajuato, according to a statement from the city's secretary of citizen safety. 

After arriving on the scene, paramedics confirmed the fatalities of six males and six women, the statement said. The identities of the victims and the number of shooters are unknown.

The state's prosecutor general's office, the secretary of national defense, the national guard, and the secretary of public safety in Guanajuato are all assisting in the search for the attackers. 

According to Reuters, this is the second large-scale shooting in the state of Guanajuato in less than a month. The state has been rocked in recent years by vicious turf warfare between rival drug gangs. 

For several of the leading automakers in the globe, the state serves as a key manufacturing base and production location.

Drug cartels are drawn to it for the same reason automakers are: the road and rail networks that run directly to the US border. 

Since assuming office in late 2018, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has had difficulty addressing gang violence, according to Reuters. 

Despite a minor decrease in homicides this year, Lopez Obrador's term is expected to be the bloodiest in recent memory.