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A commando of at least 15 men in seven trucks closed of streets and opened fire on a group of teens gathered to celebrate a birthday and win in a local football game. Sixteen have been confirmed dead, while 14 remain hospitalized.
The incident, which took place last Saturday in the neighborhood of Villas del Salvacar, underscores the unchecked violence in the border town, a stronghold of Mexico's drug gangs that have turned Ciudad Juárez into one of the most dangerous places in the world.
The reason for the attack was unclear. In the past, drug gangs have attacked parties, reunions and funerals in Ciudad Juárez to exact revenge on their rivals.
Alberto Islas, a Mexican security analyst, said the hit on the teenagers seemed to be less of a retaliation attempt and "more of a terrorist act." The attack, he said, mirrored a similar strike by the Michoacán drug gang La Familia in September 2008 when grenades were thrown into a crowd during Mexican Independence Day festivities, killing eight people and injuring more than 100 others.
For two years, the epicenter of Mexico's drug war has been Ciudad Juárez, a city of 1.5 million people across the river from El Paso, Texas, one of the United States safest cities. Two of Mexico's most powerful drug gangs have been battling for control of the city, an entry point for drugs into the U.S. and a growing local market in its own right.
