Eight dead in attack on bus in Honduras
By DPA, IANSFriday, January 7, 2011
TEGUCIGALPA - An attack on a bus in Honduras claimed the lives of eight passengers including four children, the Honduran daily El Tiempo reported Friday, citing authorities.
The attack was carried out late Thursday in the eastern Honduran province of Olancho, near the town of Punare. Attackers tried to get the bus to stop, and when they failed they opened fire on the vehicle with automatic weapons. The vehicle was riddled with bullets.
Three bus passengers were wounded in the attack, which took place on the road between Juticalpa and Catamacos, around 250 km northeast of Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.
Earlier this week, an arson attack on a bus in Guatemala killed seven people and injured 15, some of whom were left in serious condition. Police said members of the gang Mara 18 perpetrated the attack in order to extort the firm that owns the bus.
Criminal gangs terrorise the populations of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. They often demand money from bus and taxi firms, and in Guatemala several bus drivers have been killed after their employers refused to pay up.
