MEXICO CITY – At least 10 people were killed and more injured in a shooting at a home in the central Mexican city of Irapuato on Tuesday night, including children, authorities said.

“It is an appalling multiple homicide and an investigation is being carried out,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a regular press conference on Wednesday morning, adding that children were among those killed.

Security authorities said in a statement that they have launched an operation to find those responsible for the attack.

Local media reported the shooting happened during a religious celebration.

The attorney general’s office for Guanajuato, the central state where the attack took place, confirmed the attack.

“According to preliminary data, 10 people lost their lives and several more were injured by firearm projectiles,” Irapuato’s civil security office said in a statement on social media.

It added that the local government condemned the violence and expressed its solidarity with the victims, relatives and other citizens affected by “this cowardly act.”

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(Reporting by Raul Cortes, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Nick Zieminski)