MEXICO: Four policemen dead after vehicle explodes

Record ID: 304120

  • Title: MEXICO: Four policemen dead after vehicle explodes
  • Date: 28th February 2009
  • Summary: IXTAPA, ZIHUATANEJO, GUERRERO, MEXICO (JANUARY 25, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BURNT POLICE VEHICLE WITH CHARRED BODIES POLICE GUARDING AREA WHERE POLICE VEHICLE EXPLODED BURNT POLICE VEHICLE POLICE CAR ARRIVING AT PLACE WHERE VEHICLE EXPLODED BULLET SHELLS ON IXTAPA ZIHUATANEJO - ACAPULCO HIGHWAY TOURISTS WALKING PAST PLACE WHERE VEHICLE EXPLODED CHARRED GRASS VARIOUS OF CHARRED VEHICLE POLICE GUARDING AREA POLICE CAP LYING ON ROAD TOURISTS AND ONLOOKERS IN AREA WHERE VEHICLE EXPLODED SOLDIERS DRIVING PAST LEGAL EXPERTS REMOVING HUMAN REMAINS POLICE CAR AND VAN BELONGING TO LEGAL EXPERTS
  • Embargoed: 15th March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVADJX9A8YV4MDG0ML5UR7S19EGI
  • Story Text: Four police officers killed after vehicle explodes in a Mexican beach resort town, days after entire local police force goes on strike after grenade attack.
    Four policemen were killed when the police pick-up vehicle they were travelling in, burst into flames on Wednesday (February 25) in a Mexican beach resort town.
    The incident happened while the policemen were chasing a group of armed men in another vehicle on a highway in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, a town on the Pacific coast north of Acapulco popular with foreign tourists.
    The armed men starting shooting at the chasing police vehicle, where the officers were travelling in and then lobbied a grenade, which created an explosion. The charred bodies of the policemen could be seen inside the vehicle.
    Authorities were placed on high alert after the incident and closed off the Ixtapa Zihuatanejo - Acapulco highway momentarily.
    Rifle bullet shells and a police cap were left lying on the road, while curious tourists and onlookers walked past and observed the incinerated burnt shell of the vehicle.
    Legal experts were called on to the scene to remove the bodies of the victims.
    The event comes after the entire local police force in Zihuatanejo walked off the job on Monday this week, demanding better pay and benefits to compensate for the rising dangers they face from drug violence.
    More than 300 municipal police officers went on strike after grenades were lobbed at their offices over the weekend.
    Some 6,000 people were killed last year in clashes between rival drug cartels and security forces that have escalated since President Felipe Calderon deployed some 45,000 soldiers and federal police around Mexico to clamp down on cartels.
    More than 500 of those killed in last year's drug violence were police.
    Last Saturday, gunmen threw two grenades at the main police station in Zihuatanejo. While no one was killed, police say they are not adequately covered if a future attack is fatal.
    The police want to have direct talks with Calderon to request improved benefits and an increase in their roughly $350 (5,200 pesos) per month salaries before they go back to work.
    Meanwhile, Mexico is sending up to 5,000 new troops and federal police to the country's most violent city, Ciudad Juarez, where law and order is on the brink of collapse in a brutal war between drug gangs aided by corrupt police.
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