Honduras Imposes 15-Day Curfew in Two Cities after Killing of 22 People

The Honduran government announced a curfew in two cities in the north after 22 people were shot dead overnight in separate attacks amid an escalation of violence in the Central American country.

And an official in the police press office, Edgardo Barahona, told Reuters that gunmen opened fire on Saturday evening at a billiard hall in a neighborhood in the industrial city of Choloma in northern Honduras, killing 11 people and wounding three others.

Another official source, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said that at least 11 others were killed in separate attacks in the northern Valle de Sola region.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced via Twitter the imposition of an immediate 15-day curfew in Choloma between nine in the evening and four in the morning local time, as well as in the city of San Pedro Sula, starting from the fourth of July next.

There has been a partial state of emergency imposed in parts of Honduras since last December to combat gang violence.