On Saturday June 5, in coordinated attacks, a group of up to 20 unknown gunmen ambushed the vehicle carrying the state of Durango Secretary of Public Safety general Valentin Romano Lopez, who was unhurt. Six government agents were injured, including the chief officer of the State Police (PEP), Sergio Masariegos who is in serious condition.
According to official reports the gunmen, who were armed with heavy weapons and grenades, appeared on foot and in several vehicles and fired on general Romano Lopez and his bodyguard detail on his way to play tennis. The attack occurred in the state capital of Durango city outside of a sports club in Guadiana Park, across from the art school of the Juarez of Durango State University.
The general’s bodyguards repelled the attack after suffering two casualties and
were soon reinforced by agents of the State Investigative Police (AEI), municipal policemen and Mexican army troops, causing the attackers to flee.
After an operation was organized to pursue and capture the gunmen another confrontation occurred on Durango boulevard, in which the chief officer of the State Preventive Police, who headed the operation, was injured by receiving a bullet in the abdomen.
As the pursuit continued the attackers, using grenade launchers, fired several grenades at policemen who were on the corner of Durango Boulevard and Calle Banderas, wounding two more government agents. About 2,000 shell casings of various calibers littered the streets after the attack.
The fate of the attacking gunmen remains unknown at this time.
The attack on the Secretary of Public Security of Durango is the second recorded this year against an official of that rank in the country.
On April 24 of this year, the Secretary of Public Security for the state of Michoacán, Minerva Bautista, was injured in an ambush that killed 4 people and wounded 10.
The previous Saturday six decapitated bodies were found scattered in the twin city area of Lerdo and Gomez Palacio, Durango. Two of the bodies belonged to police officers that had been abducted 3 days before.
Two ministerial police agents executed in Navolato, Sinaloa
Two state police agents were found tortured and executed on a dirt road in the outskirts of Navolato, Sinaloa just after midnight Saturday morning.
The two victims were identified as Rafael Esquivel Galicia Morales and Victor Manuel Ochoa Sanchez. According to information provided by the authorities, both men were assigned to the Beta Group of the State Ministerial Police, which is responsible for executing arrest warrants.
Both officers were abducted by a group of gunmen around 9:40 PM Friday night in the state capital of Culiacan while on patrol. Their vehicle was found on Avenida Revolucion.
Later Friday night the police command center in Culiacan received a report of two bodies on a road between Culiacan and Navolato. Municipal police from Navolato arrived shortly thereafter.
Both bodies were found on the side of the dirt road laying on their backs and bearing signs of torture and multiple gunshot wounds. A medical examiner at the site said the men had been dragged on the road behind the vehicles of the gunmen. 42 shell casings belonging to AK-47s and 9mm weapons lay by the bodies.
Two police commanders attacked in Culiacan, Sinaloa.
On Friday night at approximately 11:00 PM, Edgar Vasquez Anaya, a Sinaloa State Police Comandante, was found shot to death in the ejido San Miguel located between the cities of Culiacan and Navolato.
The medical examiner’s report stated that his death was the result of 3 bullet wounds.
According to the state Secretary of Public Security’s office in Culiacan, Edgar Vasquez was a state police commander in charge of a detention center in the port city of Mazatlan.
Lw enforcement authorities indicated that Vazquez Anaya was in this city attending a course on weapons handling offered by the State Institute of Criminal Sciences, The commander had previously been accused by guards of granting privileges to inmates involved with the criminal group “los Zetas”.
On Saturday at 7:30 PM Martin Delgado Quezada, the police commander in charge of security for the state government offices in Culiacan, was shot and seriously injured by two unidentified gunmen on foot.
According to witnesses, the gunmen ambushed the police commander outside of his home as he entered a white Nissan Altima on his way to the government palace.
Delgado Quezada reacted immediately to the attack and accelerated away from the scene. He was aided by another police official who witnessed the attack and he was driven in his own vehicle to a private hospital where he is currently in intensive care.
The gunmen escaped in a white luxury sedan.
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The gunmen are getting more and more aggressive with who they target and appear to be quite successful. What to do when your own "guards" accuse you of granting privileges to the Zetas? Who can one trust? And in another incident, the gunmen escape in a white luxury sedan? Pretty bold. Just waiting for the next report of an eyewitness claiming the gunmen used gold plated, mother-of-pearls stock sub-machine guns...
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