MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Ten people were killed in a gunfight in western Mexico when suspected gang members ambushed a police convoy in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces since Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012.
Five members of Mexico’s new militarized police, or gendarmerie, were killed in the shootout on Thursday night in Ocotlan, Jalisco state, and eight others were wounded, the National Security Commission said in a statement on Friday.
Two bystanders who apparently had nothing to do with the ambush and three suspected gang members were also killed. Units of the gendarmerie were patrolling the town southeast of the state capital Guadalajara, the commission said.
At least 10 vehicles took part in the attack on police, with the assailants firing with high-powered rifles before being beaten back, the security commission said.