MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s Attorney General Jesus Murillo said yesterday three army soldiers have been accused of homicide in a late June shootout in which 22 suspected gang members were killed.
Murillo said the three soldiers were part of a group of 8 troops held over the June 30 incident in Tlatlaya on the southern fringes of the State of Mexico, which borders Guerrero and Michoacan, states plagued by gang violence.
Investigations showed there were “inconsistencies in the protocols” followed by the troops present, he said.
“(There was) a clash between military personnel and a group of criminals who were inside a warehouse which lasted between 8 and 10 minutes,” Murillo added.
“However, when the gunfire stopped, three of the military personnel entered the warehouse … and carried out a sequence of new shots which were totally unjustified.”
His office said it was still investigating how many of the 22 were murdered.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that military officials who commit crimes against civilians should be tried in civil courts, ending years of closed-door proceedings against military abuses.
The case came under closer scrutiny after a woman, who claims to have been a witness to the shootout, said in a magazine article that the 22 victims, all men except for one woman, were executed after surrendering to the army.
The move comes as Mexican authorities searched the violent western state of Guerrero on Tuesday for nearly four dozen people who were still missing days after a series of clashes involving students, police, and armed men.
Twenty-two police officers were arrested in Guerrero on Sunday accused of killing two students during the clashes in the town of Iguala on Friday. At least six people were killed in a spate of incidents.
The state governor said photos showed police had taken some of the group away.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto came to office in December 2012 pledging to quell gang violence that has killed more than 100,000 people since 2007.
