HONDURAN COAST — Gunmen opened fire in two separate attacks on Honduras's northern coast on Thursday, killing at least 16 people, including six police officers. The assaults took place at a plantation in the municipality of Trujillo and on a road in the municipality of Omoa, near the Guatemalan border.

At least 10 workers were shot and killed at the plantation in Trujillo, National Police spokesman Edgardo Barahona said. In the second attack, assailants opened fire on police in Omoa, in the Cortes department, killing six officers, including a senior officer.

The officers had been assigned to an anti-gang mission and were attacked while traveling to Omoa from the capital, Tegucigalpa. Investigators have been sent to the scene, Barahona said. He added that relatives of the victims had removed bodies of their loved ones, partly contributing to uncertainty over the overall toll.

The National Police and armed forces will respond to both areas where the attacks took place, the Security Ministry said. Teams including forensic specialists and prosecutors will be formed to investigate, the ministry said.

The resource-rich region has been the site of a decades-long agrarian conflict. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has previously issued precautionary measures to activists in the region who have been threatened, surveilled and intimidated for their work defending the environment and land rights. Environmental leader Juan López was killed in the region in 2024, and three people were arrested for masterminding his killing.

Honduras's homicide rate peaked at 83 murders per 100,000 residents in 2011 and has since declined, according to the World Bank. A three-year state of exception that suspended some constitutional rights and granted more power to security forces ended in January 2026.