Mexican police arrest 6 suspected of torching bar in Cancun, killing 8

Mexico arrests 6 in deadly Cancun bar blaze

CANCUN, Mexico — Mexican police have arrested six suspects in a bar fire that killed eight in the resort city of Cancun.

Quintana Roo state Attorney General Francisco Alor says the suspects told police a drug gang hired them to throw gasoline bombs at the bar, presumably in an attempt at extortion.

Businesses throughout Mexico are often hit up for protection money, and sometimes set on fire if they refuse.

Alor did not say Friday who might have been targeted or which gang may have been involved.

Six women and two men died in Tuesday’s pre-dawn blaze at the Castillo del Mar bar, in a poor area far from Cancun’s tourist zone.

The city has largely avoided Mexico’s drug violence, but cartels and migrant traffickers operate in the area.