Four people were killed Tuesday in a gunbattle between two rival criminal gangs in the central Honduran city of La Guacamaya, police said.
Nearly a score of men from one of the gangs surrounded a house where the other criminal faction was meeting and began shooting, deputy inspector Daniel Matamoros told reporters.
Three men inside the home died, while their comrades killed one of the attackers, he said.
The gangs - both with a history of cattle rustling and armed robbery - had been at odds with each other for years, Matamoros said, citing a preliminary report from police in La Guacamaya.
Honduras experiences an average of 20 homicides a day.
Hoping to curb the mayhem, President Porfirio Lobo launched “Operation Lightning,” a crime-suppression effort involving hundreds of police and soldiers.
The initiative began Nov. 1 and has had no discernible effect on the level of violence.
Corrupt police officers have been linked to some of the murders that have made Honduras the most dangerous country in a region notorious for rampant crime.
