Suspected drug gang leader's sister and mother-in-law shot dead in Spain

MADRID - A suspected gang leader's mother-in-law, his pregnant sister and a teenager were killed in a drug-related shooting in southern Spain, police said on Monday.

The alleged gang leader's 18-year-old nephew was seriously wounded in the shooting on Sunday night and another person was slightly injured, a spokesperson for the Guardia Civil police force said.

The triple homicide is being investigated by police as a settling of scores between rival drug-trafficking gangs in the El Rocio neighbourhood of Isla Cristina, a coastal town 7.5 km (4.7 miles) from the border with Portugal.

No arrests have been made and police are searching for an attacker who used a long-barrelled gun, the spokesperson said.

The women killed were the 62-year-old mother-in-law and 39-year-old sister of suspected gang leader "El Baba", whose 18-year-old nephew was seriously wounded, the spokesperson said.

The third person killed, a boy of 16, had no relation to the family, and police did not give the age or gender of the person who was lightly injured.

The so-called Baba Clan has feuded with rival families such as the "Moriña Clan", and violence between them escalated after a deadly shooting in 2024. El Baba was arrested weeks later in northern Spain and remains in pre-trial detention, according to local media.

-Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Timothy Heritage/Reuters