By EFE
Aug 27, 2023, 22:42 PM EDT
MORELIA – A series of gunfights on Saturday left two alleged hitmen dead and five police officers wounded in the western Mexican state of Michoacán, state authorities reported Sunday.
The Civil Guard (State Police) reported in a statement that the first shooting occurred at noon this Saturday in the town known as Charapendo, in the municipality of Gabriel Zamora -Tierra Caliente region-, where alleged hitmen fired at a group of local policemen.
The agents repelled the attack, unleashing a fierce confrontation that caused a passenger bus and several vehicles to be caught in the crossfire. The bus received at least five bullet wounds.
After this armed clash, five police officers were injured, while two of the attackers were killed and their bodies were left in the area by their accomplices.
The communiqué pointed out that between the two killed could be a head of hitmen, according to preliminary reports from the Civil Guard.
Agents of the National Guard and the Mexican Army joined the Civil Guard to patrol the municipality of Gabriel Zamora, which is why throughout this Saturday various confrontations with alleged hitmen have been reported, mainly in mountainous and rural areas.
In the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán – which brings together 12 municipalities – the criminal organizations calling themselves the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), the Zicuirán Cartel, the United Cartels and Los Caballeros Templarios operate.
Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, governor of Michoacán and close to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, revealed in recent days that the presence of at least 12 drug cartels has been detected in the state, who are disputing control of illegal activities in the 113 municipalities that make up the state.
The National Guard sent to Michoacán, in recent days, a contingent of 300 soldiers with all-terrain vehicles and artillery, to join the fight against organized crime.