Gunmen firing from a vehicle killed four people in an alley in Honduras' second city of San Pedro Sula in an overnight attack blamed on suspected gang members, authorities told media on Wednesday.

The multiple slaying confirmed the Central American country's notoriety as one of the most violent peacetime nations on the planet. It suffers 68 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, according to a Violence Observatory in the National University.

The victims, three young men and a woman, were cut down late Tuesday in a district on the southeastern rim of San Pedro Sula. One of the men was a student and another was a church leader.

The motive for the attack was unknown, but much of the bloodshed in the country is attributed to vicious street gangs waging turf wars and extorting businesses.