At least ten suspected criminals have died in a clash with state authorities near the Mexican capital, according to the Attorney General’s Office in Mexico.
State Police and National Guard officers monitor the area in Mexico where a standoff with suspected criminals erupted on June 14.
(dpa)
According to official information, Mexican security forces have killed ten suspected members of a heavily armed criminal group. According to the Attorney General of Mexico, several of their agents were attacked by the group in a village in the municipality of Texcaltitlán on Tuesday, with three of them being slightly injured. A tactical unit of the public prosecutor’s office, supported by soldiers, responded with “legitimate use of force”. Seven of the alleged attackers were arrested, including four injured.
According to local media reports, police officers in the central Mexican town wanted to arrest a member of the Familia Michoacana cartel who was wanted with an arrest warrant. They were greeted with shots. A month earlier, the alleged regional head of the cartel had been arrested in the area. According to the prosecutor, 20 assault rifles and other firearms, ammunition, bulletproof vests, military uniforms, communication equipment and five vehicles were seized.
According to the International Crisis Group, around 200 criminal groups are active in Mexico. They are involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion and petrol theft, among other things. Some are also fighting for control of legal businesses like avocado growing. Since the North American state began militarily waging the so-called drug war in 2006, the spiral of violence has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The murder rate per inhabitant there was recently around 100 times higher than in Germany. More than 100,000 people are believed to have disappeared in Mexico. About 98 percent of crimes go unsolved.