Tegucigalpa, Feb 28 (IANS/EFE): Honduras suffered 85.5 homicides for every 100,000 residents in 2012, compared with a global median rate of 8.8 murders per 100,000, said a report.

Of a total of 10,411 violent deaths last year, 7,172 were classified as homicides, the Violence Observatory at the National Autonomous University said in a report released Wednesday.

"Enough already with so many deaths," university president Julieta Castellanos said in presenting the report at a press conference.

More than 52 percent of all homicides in Honduras last year occurred on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, while 53.6 percent of the total took place in three provinces: Atlantida, Cortes and Francisco Morazan.

Firearms were used in 83.4 percent of the murders, according to the report, which noted that the number of homicides in Honduras has grown by nearly 233 percent over the past nine years.

The Violence Observatory's report drew on statistics from the security ministry and the medical examiner's office.

All but 606 of last year's murder victims were men and people in the 15-44 age group bore the brunt of the carnage.

Castellanos, whose own son was murdered in 2011, said "no results will be obtained" with the steps taken thus far in the area of public safety.

She demanded that authorities explain the lack of progress in their investigations.