Thread: WAR IN MEXICO 5 Police, 3 others killed

5 police, 3 others killed in Mexico

The Associated Press
1:59 p.m. February 6, 2009

MEXICO CITY — A state police commander and two officers were shot and killed as they headed to arrest a suspect in the western state of Sinaloa, a local prosecutor's spokesman said Friday.

The three officers were gunned down late Thursday as they arrived at the town of Palo Verde, spokesman Martin Gastelum said. Two other officers were wounded in the apparent ambush.

Officials had no suspects in the shooting.

Sinaloa, headquarters for the drug cartel of the same name, has had one of the highest homicide rates in Mexico.

Also Thursday in neighboring Sonora state, two state police officers were found shot to death near their patrol pickup, parked on a dirt road.

The victims, Rito Alcantar and Hilarino Molotzin, were assigned to the small town of El Maquipo, according to a state police statement Friday.

Officials didn't say whether they had a motive or suspects in the case.

And in the state of Michoacan on Friday, three people were fatally shot as they drove down a dirt road, state police director Maurio Bautista said. Officials were searching for the suspects.

Mexico is caught in a wave of drug violence as cartels battle each and fight off a nationwide government crackdown. Some 6,000 people were killed last year in organized crime related homicides.

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