Mexico | 13 dead in shootout between police and gang members

(Guadalajara) Four police officers and nine suspected gang members, including a woman, died during an operation to rescue kidnapped people in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, authorities said Thursday.

Posted yesterday at 10:38 p.m.

The exchange of fire around a house in the suburbs of Guadalajara, which lasted more than an hour according to witnesses, led to the release of two men who were held hostage inside the building, the prosecutor said Luis Mendez Ruiz to reporters.

Luis Méndez Ruiz, Jalisco state prosecutor, said police responded to an emergency call warning them that armed men had pulled gagged people out of a van.

Officers who drove to the scene were met by a woman who claimed it was a false report, after which the patrol car came under fire.

Eight people were arrested, three of whom were seriously injured in the shooting, and weapons and ammunition were seized, Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro said.

Ten police officers have been killed since the start of the year in the state of Jalisco, one of the most violent in Mexico due to the presence of criminal gangs, including the powerful Jalisco Cartel New Generation, which the authorities hold responsible for numerous homicides and disappearances.

Its leader, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, is one of the most wanted drug lords in the world, with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) offering US$10 million for his arrest.

Mexico has recorded more than 340,000 murders and tens of thousands missing since the December 2006 launch of a military offensive against organized crime.


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