Convoy ambush kills 7 Mexican police, 1 prisoner

Updated 2h 37m ago |

CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — Gunmen staged a massive ambush of a police convoy transporting two prisoners in northern Mexico, killing seven officers and one of the inmates, prosecutors said Monday.

Six other officers and a second prisoner were wounded in the attack, in which gunmen traveling in about 20 vehicles caught police in a crossfire, Sinaloa state Attorney General Marco Antonio Higuera said.

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"The patrol vehicles were destroyed. It was practically a massacre," Higuera said. "Initial reports indicate there were 1,200 shell casings at the scene."

The three state police patrol vehicles were traveling to the state capital of Culiacan when they came under attack by gunmen who had apparently been lying in wait on a highway near the city of Guasave on Sunday.

Higuera said the officers fought off a first attack but were later caught in concentrated fire from a larger number of vehicles.

Also Monday, police in the Pacific coast resort city of Acapulco reported finding three severed heads in plastic bags outside a tunnel that connects central Acapulco to the outskirts of the city.

The victims were all male, the Guerrero state Public Safety Department said in a statement.

A note left at the scene said the beheadings were revenge for the killing of a man who was shot dead during an attempted kidnapping.

Meanwhile, police announced the capture of a suspected prominent drug gang member who allegedly oversaw kidnappings, extortion, bribery and local drug distribution for a group known as the "independent cartel of Acapulco."

Benjamin Flores Reyes, alias "The Godfather," was arrested Sunday after a six-month investigation, the federal Public Safety Department said in a statement.

Flores studied criminal psychology for a time during 15 years he spent living in the United States, the statement added. He returned to Mexico about three years ago and allegedly signed up with the organization formerly led by Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as "La Barbie," who was arrested last year.

In recent months, Acapulco has seen a wave of organized-crime violence blamed on warring drug gangs.

On Sunday, armed men attacked a police station in the city, wounding an officer. The same suspects later shot at a house, wounding two people at the residence.

More than 35,000 people have been killed nationwide in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive against cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.

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