Drug gang attacks ‘force hundreds of Indigenous families to flee’ in Mexico

Members of a community self-defence force stand guard outside their village in Guerrero state. Many of the drug gang attacks have targeted such groups. Photograph: Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images

Hundreds of Indigenous families have been forced to flee their homes in the mountains of central Mexico by intense attacks from a local criminal group, including drone bombings, an Indigenous rights organisation said on Monday.

A gang known as Los Ardillos has been carrying out attacks in Guerrero state for years, but they started to intensify last week. Villages were subjected to eight hours of bombings on Saturday, the National Indigenous Congress said, forcing between 800 to 1,000 families to flee to other towns.