A new spate of violence in the drug-ravaged northern Mexico state of Nuevo Leon saw eight taxi drivers killed on Tuesday.

According to witnesses, armed men in minivans opened fire on two black market taxi bases in the Guadalupe municipality at about 2pm. The men killed three men at the first taxi stand, and then moved onto another where five more were killed. The blooded bodies of the drivers lay on the roads and footpaths in broad daylight, not far from their vehicles and curious passers-by.

One local shop keeper Valdemar Quintanilla speaking in Spanish said violent crime is on the increase and it isn't the first time this has happened

WITNESS AND LOCAL STREET VENDOR, VALDEMAR QUINTANILLA, SAYING:

"It's not the first time this has happened to us. It's happened in other municipalities. We go out to work thinking that things are becoming more peaceful but no I think it's the opposite. You leave more scared, at more risk with all that is happening around.

Violence has soared across large swathes of Mexico's north as rival cartels battle over lucrative drug trafficking routes to the United States.