Photo: CTV

Men firing from a car poured gunshots into three cantinas in a rural town in Guatemala, killing at least 10 people and injuring 19, officials said Sunday.

The attacks occurred Saturday night in San Jose Nacahuil, a Kaqchikel Maya mountain town some 11 miles (18 kilometres) northeast of Guatemala City, reachable only by dirt roads.

Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla said the attackers apparently entered the town on foot, "robbed a vehicle from a person in the community, committed the attack, fled and left the vehicle abandoned a few kilometres from here."

Local firefighters spokesman Sergio Vasquez said several children are among the wounded, apparently because they lived in the buildings housing the bars. Firefighters are often the first emergency personnel to respond to such incidents in Guatemala and Vasquez said 50 responded to the shooting in the village.

Officials had made no arrests and the motive remained unclear. Regional police spokesman Jorge Aguilar suggested the attackers may have tried to buy liquor in the bars and had been refused, and he said the attackers could be gang members.

Lopez Bonilla noted that the town has had a troubled history with police, with none stationed there because villagers burned down the police station in 2007, angry over officers' behaviour.

Even so, he said, "it is a very well organized community" with a very low crime rate, despite the violence that plagues Guatemala City to the south and the drug gang clashes that have led to mass murders in some other parts of the country.

Lopez Bonilla said officials had received an anonymous call from the town earlier Saturday reporting fear there could be an attack. "We sent a patrol car and determined that everything was OK and the patrol car left. One hour later, the attack happened."

Nacahuil resident Victor Tepen said his nephew Javier Tepen, 20, went out Saturday night and never returned; he was identified as one of those killed in the attack.

"Nothing like this had ever happened before," said the elder Tepen. "We have never seen a massacre like this. This is a big blow for the town."