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Mexico: 8 officers killed in attack on prison convoy

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-20 14:42

MEXICO CITY -- In the latest of a series of brazen, drug-related attacks, gunmen ambushed a prisoner transfer convoy in western Mexico, killing eight officers in a failed attempt to free a high-level cartel member, police said Sunday.

Mexican federal police lead suspected members of the "Familia Michoacana" drug cartel to a news conference at the federal police center in Mexico City April 19, 2009. [Agencies]

At least 20 assailants launched a running gun battle Saturday against the dwindling column of vehicles escorting nine prisoners as it raced between an airport and penitentiary in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, police said.

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As their comrades lay dying in a string of bullet-riddled pickups, part of the convoy stopped and turned to fight off the attackers, said Gen. Rodolfo Cruz, head of support operations for the Federal Police.

"The rest of the convoy stopped and opened fire on the attackers, who fled in all directions when they saw their attack being repulsed," Cruz said. The fallen officers "gave the most sacred thing a human has, their lives."

Police called it a well-planned attack intended to free Jeronimo Gamez, cousin of Arturo Beltran Leyva, the reputed leader of one of Mexico's most powerful cartels. Gamez was arrested in Mexico City in January and was being moved to a prison in Nayarit's capital city, Tepic.

Officers managed to deliver Gamez and eight other detainees to the prison despite the attacks which began just outside the airport. Photos showed battered police pickup trucks with shot-out windows, crumpled fenders or bullet holes and blood stains from the fallen police.

Four federal police officers, two federal investigative agents and two prison employees died in the attack. There was no immediate information on the number of injured or wounded and no reports of deaths or arrests among the attackers.

Prosecutors accuse Gamez of acting as Beltran Leyva's representative in negotiating drug deals with Colombian traffickers.

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