MEXICO CITY — Two massacres that killed 15 people in less than 12 hours rocked Honduras Wednesday and left the country's top police official in tears.
Police say seven people were fatally shot in the capital of Tegucigalpa early Wednesday, while eight bus drivers were killed in the northern city of San Pedro Sula late Tuesday.
Police commissioner Leonel Sauceda said that in the Tegucigalpa attack, six of the victims were pulled from their homes and killed.
''I can't feel anything other than pain, sadness, much sorrow for what happened . . . It hurts to see a scene like this,'' said Sauceda, breaking into tears. ''But it's not time to drop our guard."
He said the style of the killings suggested an attack by gangs, who battle for territory, extort money, and sell drugs.
In the other massacre, six men in flak jackets and ski masks got off a bus at a terminal outside the city of San Pedro Sula on Tuesday and shot eight bus drivers one by one.
Murders of bus drivers and taxi drivers are common in Honduras and are almost always linked to the collection of extortion by any of the half-dozen gangs that operate nationwide.