Mexico City  - At least 17 young people were killed by masked gunmen at a drug-rehabilitation centre in the northern Mexican border city of Cuidad Juarez, newspaper reports said.

Three people were injured in Wednesday's shootings, police told the local newspaper El Diario.

At least 12 gunman stormed the drug treatment centre and used a list to search out their victims, who they then shot, the El Universal newspaper reported.

The city on the border with the US state of Texas is plagued by drug crime and has one of the highest murder rates of any Mexican city.