At least 24 people, including more than 10 police officers, were killed in three armed attacks on Monday in three southern Mexican states hit by drug-trafficking violence, according to local authorities.
There was an attack on a police patrol in the town of Coyuca de Benitez in the southwestern state of Guerrero, killing at least thirteen people and wounding two, according to the local prosecutor’s office. She did not give the exact date of the attack.
However, he had previously pointed out that “eleven members of the city police” had lost their lives.
Four civilians and a police officer were also killed in another armed attack in the city of Tacambaro in the neighboring state of Michoacan.
These two regions, strategic drug trafficking corridors along the Pacific coast, are often the scene of criminal activity attributed to powerful Mexican cartels.
Six more people died in a shootout between suspected drug traffickers in the city of San Miguel Canoa (central Puebla state), about 120 km from Mexico City.
In Coyuca de Benitez, the attacked patrol accompanied the movement of the local security minister, said Guerrero deputy prosecutor Alejandro Hernandez.
For his part, the city’s mayor, Ossiel Pacheco, confirmed in a statement that two local officials had lost their lives, including local security minister Alfredo Alonso Lopez.
Mr. Lopez took office in December 2022, following the resignation of his predecessor, who was the victim of an armed attack, the local press recalled.
“We were not aware of any threats against officials,” said Mr. Hernandez of Coyuca de Benitez.
The deputy prosecutor did not provide details about the circumstances of the attack, but the local press reported that it was an ambush near a school.
Images circulating on social media show several people in uniform lying face down on the ground, their hands tied and seemingly lifeless.
“Violence before the election”
According to local prosecutors, five people died and two were injured in the attack in the neighboring state of Michoacan when gunmen attacked the brother of the mayor of the city of Tacambaro.
A restaurant worker and a city police officer were among the victims, while the mayor’s brother was injured.
In a video posted on social media, gunmen can be seen opening fire and then fleeing in several vehicles.
Mexico has recorded more than 420,000 murders since a controversial military anti-narcotics offensive began in 2006. Since then, the country’s murder rate has tripled to 25 per 100,000 residents. In addition, more than 110,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been recorded in the country, most of them since 2006, and most are attributed to criminal organizations.
The states of Guerrero and Michoacan are considered the most violent due to fighting between rival drug gangs and security forces.
Guerrero, home to the popular resort town of Acapulco, is one of the poorest states in Mexico.
Violence against local officials often increases as the election period approaches, but presidential and legislative elections will take place in 2024.
“Guerrero has long experienced one of the most complicated armed conflicts in Mexico, but the current level of pre-election violence is extraordinary,” Falko Ernst, analyst at the International Crisis Group, told the X network (ex-Twitter).