http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/02 ... _31_37.txt

Gunmen attack Mexican police convoy transporting suspects, including one American

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Unidentified assailants opened fire with assault rifles on a federal police convoy transporting two suspected triggermen -- one of the an American -- in the violent border city of Nuevo Laredo on Thursday, wounding two policemen and the Mexican suspect.

The attack was the latest in a series of shootings that have left four people dead in as many days in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.

Thursday's brazen attacked in broad daylight outside the city police department. The suspects are accused of participating in a Monday shooting that killed one man and wound another.

Suspect Rebeca Garcia, 19, was wounded; suspect Javier Escalera, of the United States, was unharmed. No information on his hometown was immediately available.

Both Garcia and the police officers were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

About two dozen people have been killed in Nuevo Laredo in the last month. The city has been the scene of a bloody turf war between rival drug gangs fighting over lucrative trafficking routes.

In recent searches of the city, police have turned up weapons, ammunition, apparently fake police uniforms and a bulletproof SUV painted in military-style camouflage.