Rebels Blamed in Fatal Ambush of Mexican Police in Patrol Car
MEXICO CITY — About a dozen assailants believed to be members of a leftist rebel group opened fire on a patrol car carrying three state police officers in southern Guerrero state, killing two and wounding the third.
The attack by the masked, uniformed assailants occurred Saturday on a rural highway near the remote village of Tlapa, about 95 miles northeast of Acapulco, the government news agency Notimex reported.
The suspected members of the Popular Revolutionary Army, a small guerrilla group known by its initials as the EPR, opened fire on the patrol car with assault rifles from a curve in the road, said Servando Alanis Santos, the state prosecutor.
More than 150 shell casings from assault rifles were found at the scene of the attack. Alanis Santos said the assailants wore olive green military uniforms and black ski masks.
A state government statement Sunday said that it appeared no rebels were wounded in the half-hour gun battle and that officials detained three witnesses for questioning.
The EPR, demanding political and social reform, first appeared at a memorial service for 17 farm workers massacred by Guerrero state police in 1995.
The latest round of attacks comes nearly one month after an army patrol clashed with rebels in another Guerrero village, El Charco, killing 11 people said to be members of a breakaway EPR group.
Police also blame the EPR for an ambush June 22 in Guerrero that killed three Mexican soldiers and wounded three others.
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