CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Gunmen have killed five members of a family, including two young children, in the drug cartel-plagued state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico.

State Attorney's General's Office spokesman Carlos Gonzalez says the unidentified gunmen took the spent shell casings away with them after shooting the family in El Terrero in the municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo.

Witnesses say five gunmen arrived at the house asking for a person. When the family said they didn't know where he was, the assailants opened fire.

Those killed Saturday were two adult women, a teenager and two children aged 3 and 4.

Chihuahua state, which contains Ciudad Juarez, is a hotspot in Mexico's drug war, which has claimed more than 34,000 lives since 2006.