At least 13 people, including a child were killed on Friday when a group of unidentified gunmen opened fire on a party in the violence-wracked eastern Mexican state of Veracruz.

The country’s Secretariat of Public Safety said the gunmen arrived at a family reunion in Minatitlan community, asking to see someone named ‘El Becky’, the owner of a local bar before opening fire on the gathering.

It added that seven men, five women and a child were killed during the attack while four others were injured.

Although the motive for the shooting has not been ascertained, Veracruz has been plagued with organized crime and bloody gun battles which frequently erupt between rival drug gangs.

Gang-linked hit men often carry out public assassinations in Mexico but more than 40,000 people have also been registered as ‘missing’, likely murdered and buried somewhere.

More than a quarter of a million people have been killed since 2006 when the government of then president Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on drug traffickers.