El Salvador witnessed record-levels of murders reported last month since the conclusion of the country's 12 year civil war in 1992. The National Forensics Institute (ILM) has stated that in August, 911 homicides were reported to the authorities, which is an average of almost 30 people killed per day, reports Fox News.
Aug. 23 alone witnessed 52 murders, making it the bloodiest day of the year thus far. Institute director Miguel Fortin Magana stated on Wednesday that August 2015 was "without doubt the most violent in El Salvador's history."
A total of 4,246 homicides have been recorded from January to August, which is an average of about 17.5 homicides a day. The grisly statistic shows a 67 percent increase in the number of murders committed during the same eight-month period last year, according to Reuters.
Most of the violence in the country is credited to the ongoing gang war between the the country's two main gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and its rival, Barrio 18. The two gangs entered a truce in 2012, which helped reduce the country's murder rate significantly
truce began to fall apart last year, however, ushering in a time of renewed violence. Currently, El Salvador estimates that about 80 percent of the recorded homicides are related to purges and score-settling between the country's rival gangs.
The gang wars in the country have forced most of its civilian population to take measures to avoid the violence, as covered in this HNGN article.
