6 Cops die in shootout with gunmen in eastern Mexico

Published April 05, 2011

Veracruz – A police commander and five officers died in a shootout with gunmen in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, officials said.

The incident occurred Sunday night in Vega del Paso, a community outside the city of El Higo, the Veracruz Government Secretariat said.

The six state police officers, one of whom was a woman, were killed by gunmen armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

The slain officers were identified as Fernando Alonso Cisneros, 31, who was in command of the unit, David de la Rosa Reyes, 23, Leonel Ruiz Perez, 25, Zulema Castillo Fernandez, 33, Orlando Aguilera Gonzalez, 45, and Armando Tenorio Ayala, 49.

A message from an organized crime group was found at the crime scene, officials said.

The officers were ambushed while on a patrol targeting illegal nightspots, Veracruz Government Secretary Gerardo Buganza said.

Soldiers from the army's 30th Infantry Battalion responded to the shooting and launched a search for the gunmen.

Northern Veracruz has been affected by a wave of violence in recent months blamed on a war between the Gulf and Los Zetas cartels for control of territory.

Tampico Alto Mayor Saturnino Valdes disappeared on Feb. 25 and six bodies were found on Feb. 17 in El Moralillo, a community outside the city of Panuco.

A total of 15,270 people died in drug-related violence in Mexico last year, and more than 35,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the country's cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.

Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and Federal Police officers across the country to combat drug cartels and other criminal organizations.

The anti-drug operation, however, has failed to put a dent in the violence due, according to experts, to drug cartels' ability to buy off the police and even high-ranking officials.

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