TEGUCIGALPA, Sept 8 (NNN-TELESUR) — An Afro-descendant woman and her five-year-old daughter were shot dead Friday by unknown persons who forcibly entered their house in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Aguan in northern Honduras, an official source reported.
The victims were identified as Gilma Antonia Cacho and her daughter Fiori Amaya Cacho, both belonging to the Afro-descendant ethnic group of Garifuna, according to the Honduran police.
According to eyewitness accounts, say the police, the victims were attacked by at least five armed men who entered the residence at dawn when the two were inside.
The alleged aggressors, who have not been identified, escaped afterwards while the police ran a search operation that has so far been unsuccessful, according to the first official reports.
The violence caused by organized crime and drug trafficking is one of the main problems in Honduras where, on average, between ten and eleven are murdered daily.
Between January and August of this year, the reports said, 2,566 homicides were registered in the country, a 5.2 percent increase over the 2,438 killings in the first eight months of last year.
Honduran authorities attribute many of these deaths also to gang clashes over drug sales and territorial wars.
Honduras, as well as El Salvador and Guatemala, which make up the Northern Triangle of Central America, is considered one of the most violent countries in the world, even though it does not live in a state of war, according to the United Nations reports.
Honduran police say they are investigating the double murder and that they have not yet determined the reason for the crime. — NNN-TELESUR
