Mexico city shooting: Gunmen ambush police convoy killing 13
The Thursday ambush sparked a huge search for the killers
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Gunmen apparently from a drug gang ambushed a police convoy Thursday in central Mexico killing eight state police officers and five prosecution investigators in a hail of gunfire, authorities said.
The massacre of the 13 law enforcement officers in the State of Mexico was the country's single biggest slaying of law enforcement since October 2019, when cartel gunmen ambushed and killed 14 state police officers in the neighboring state of Michoacan.
The Thursday ambush sparked a huge search for the killers in a rural, gang-plagued area southwest of Mexico City which is surrounded on three sides by Mexico State. The dead law enforcement officers worked for the state.
While Mexico State contains suburbs of the capital, it also includes lawless mountain and scrub lands like the one where the attack occurred.
Rodrigo Martínez Celis, the head of the state Public Safety Department, said soldiers, marines and National Guard troops were combing the area by land and from the air looking for the killers.
“The convoy was carrying out patrols in the region, precisely to fight the criminal groups that operate in the area,” Martínez Celis said. "This aggression is an attack on the Mexican government.
“We will respond with all force,” he added.
Read more:
There was no immediate indication as to what gang or cartel the gunmen might have belonged to. Several operate in the area around Coatepec Harinas, where the attack occurred.
The town is near a hot springs resort known as Ixtapan de la Sal, which is popular among Mexico City residents as a weekend getaway. But it also relatively close to cities like Taxco, where authorities have reported activities by the Guerreros Unidos gang apparently allied with the Jalisco cartel and by the Arcelia gang, dominated by the Familia Michoacán crime organization.
The attack appears to present a challenge for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador who has pursued a strategy of not directly confronting drug cartels in an effort to avoid violence.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.