Photos of the aftermath of three of the incidents can be found here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of five police agents in the La Laguna region of Mexico have been shot to death and another two were wounded Thursday afternoon, according to Mexican new accounts.
Also two other individuals were killed in Torreon, Coahuila and Gomez Palacio in ongoing drug and gang related violence
A news item posted on the website of Proceso news weekly said that four of the five dead police agents were killed on the Durango side of La Laguna in three separate incidents.
Two unidentified police agents with the Gomez Palacio, Durango transit police were shot to death near the intersection of calles Morelos and Urrea. A second incident took place minutes later near the on Bulevar Miguel Aleman near the Museo Francisco Sarabia museum against a sole police agent.
The third incident took place near the intersection of Calzada Lazaro Cardenas near a technical school Centro de Estudios Tecnologicos, where a transit police agent was shot to death while directing traffic.
A fourth incident took place on Bulevar Guadalupe Victoria, which ended with an unidentified police agent wounded.
The fifth police agent was killed in Torreon in Coahuila, but no details have appeared in Mexican press regarding that incident.
The five dead police agents were identified in a news brief posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango news daily as Gilberto Rodriguez Gonzalez, Jose Luis Gamboa Aleman, Victo Ivan Guereca Salinas, Florentino Martinez Flores and Jose Miguel Castro Roman.
Two other civilians were killed in La Laguna.
A number of weapons were found when a Policia Federal (PF) road patrol stopped two men who were travelling aboard a Dodge Neon sedan. Inside the vehicle, PF agents found one 0.30 caliber and one 0.22 caliber rifles, one 9mm pistol, one 9mm Lugar pistol, one Uzi type pistol and one 0.22 caliber pistol. Four weapons magazines were also seized in the traffic stop. The two detainees were identified as Javier Becerra Gallegos and Omar Becerra Gallegos, both 25 and from Ciudad Lerdo, Durango.
Separately, four suspects were detained in La Laguna for alleged car theft. The detainees were identified as Gregorio Contreras Aguirre, Gustavo Carrillo Reyes, Aaron Vega Renteria, and Julio Cesar Vega Renteria.
Three more suspects were detained for alleged attempted robbery. They were identified as José Martin Chavez Hernandez, Juan de Dios Garcia Navarro and Maria Guadalupe Rubio Rodriguez.
All nine suspects were transferred to the Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) in Durango city.
The La Laguna region began formal security operations named Operativo Laguna only last week in which Mexican federal security forces including the military and Policia Federal units along with Coahuila and Durango state police units would maintain patrols in the region, especially in the absence of 158 police agents who had been dismissed or who had quit the police corporations in Gomez Palacio.
That reduction in force in La Laguna had left the region with very little local police presence until the Mexican XI Military Region agreed to coordinate police activities in the region.
A separate news story posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango Tuesday said that about 100 naval infantry effectives, the equivalent of a rifle company had been deployed at the Expo Feria, or fairgrounds in Gomez Palacio to assist in security operations. It was reported earlier this month that Mexican marine units had arrived in the region to assist with security, but this latest news is the first of an encampment.
At last report, the Mexican Army was answering 066 telephone calls, Mexico's emergency telephone number. It was also reported by Mexican press in a security incident earlier in the month that army marine and state police units were being combined for the purposes of patrolling then region.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of five police agents in the La Laguna region of Mexico have been shot to death and another two were wounded Thursday afternoon, according to Mexican new accounts.
Also two other individuals were killed in Torreon, Coahuila and Gomez Palacio in ongoing drug and gang related violence
A news item posted on the website of Proceso news weekly said that four of the five dead police agents were killed on the Durango side of La Laguna in three separate incidents.
Two unidentified police agents with the Gomez Palacio, Durango transit police were shot to death near the intersection of calles Morelos and Urrea. A second incident took place minutes later near the on Bulevar Miguel Aleman near the Museo Francisco Sarabia museum against a sole police agent.
The third incident took place near the intersection of Calzada Lazaro Cardenas near a technical school Centro de Estudios Tecnologicos, where a transit police agent was shot to death while directing traffic.
A fourth incident took place on Bulevar Guadalupe Victoria, which ended with an unidentified police agent wounded.
The fifth police agent was killed in Torreon in Coahuila, but no details have appeared in Mexican press regarding that incident.
The five dead police agents were identified in a news brief posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango news daily as Gilberto Rodriguez Gonzalez, Jose Luis Gamboa Aleman, Victo Ivan Guereca Salinas, Florentino Martinez Flores and Jose Miguel Castro Roman.
Two other civilians were killed in La Laguna.
- A man was found stabbed to death in an incident characterized as an execution Thursday. Francisco Javier Ramirez Aldaba, 23, was found at a residence in Ejido El Vergelito stabbed in the chest and abdomen.
- An unidentified man in his 40s was found tortured and strangled to death on Avenida Hidalgo in Oscar Flores Tapia colony in Torreon in Coahuila Wednesday night.
A number of weapons were found when a Policia Federal (PF) road patrol stopped two men who were travelling aboard a Dodge Neon sedan. Inside the vehicle, PF agents found one 0.30 caliber and one 0.22 caliber rifles, one 9mm pistol, one 9mm Lugar pistol, one Uzi type pistol and one 0.22 caliber pistol. Four weapons magazines were also seized in the traffic stop. The two detainees were identified as Javier Becerra Gallegos and Omar Becerra Gallegos, both 25 and from Ciudad Lerdo, Durango.
Separately, four suspects were detained in La Laguna for alleged car theft. The detainees were identified as Gregorio Contreras Aguirre, Gustavo Carrillo Reyes, Aaron Vega Renteria, and Julio Cesar Vega Renteria.
Three more suspects were detained for alleged attempted robbery. They were identified as José Martin Chavez Hernandez, Juan de Dios Garcia Navarro and Maria Guadalupe Rubio Rodriguez.
All nine suspects were transferred to the Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) in Durango city.
The La Laguna region began formal security operations named Operativo Laguna only last week in which Mexican federal security forces including the military and Policia Federal units along with Coahuila and Durango state police units would maintain patrols in the region, especially in the absence of 158 police agents who had been dismissed or who had quit the police corporations in Gomez Palacio.
That reduction in force in La Laguna had left the region with very little local police presence until the Mexican XI Military Region agreed to coordinate police activities in the region.
A separate news story posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango Tuesday said that about 100 naval infantry effectives, the equivalent of a rifle company had been deployed at the Expo Feria, or fairgrounds in Gomez Palacio to assist in security operations. It was reported earlier this month that Mexican marine units had arrived in the region to assist with security, but this latest news is the first of an encampment.
At last report, the Mexican Army was answering 066 telephone calls, Mexico's emergency telephone number. It was also reported by Mexican press in a security incident earlier in the month that army marine and state police units were being combined for the purposes of patrolling then region.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com