MEXICO CITY — Gunmen on Thursday ambushed a Mexican authorities convoy conducting a safety patrol southwest of the capital, killing 13 prosecutors and law enforcement officials in what gave the impression to be the deadliest assault on Mexican regulation enforcement in effectively over a yr, officers mentioned.
The assault was a serious setback to authorities safety forces and yet one more reminder of the extreme safety challenges dealing with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The president took workplace in 2018 promising to make Mexico a safer place, however he has been unable to place a significant dent within the violence that has lengthy bloodied the nation.
Rodrigo Martínez Celis Wogau, safety minister for the State of Mexico, referred to as the ambush “an affront to the Mexican state” and promised to “reply with complete power.”
The convoy on Thursday was patrolling in Coatepec Harinas, about 40 miles southwest of Mexico Metropolis, the capital, to “fight felony teams who function in that zone,” Mr. Martínez added in a video assertion posted on Twitter.
The demise toll included eight law enforcement officials from Mr. Martínez’s division, the Safety Secretariat, in addition to 5 representatives of the state’s Lawyer Normal’s workplace, officers mentioned.
The assault gave the impression to be the deadliest assault on Mexican regulation enforcement brokers since October 2019, when gunmen killed 14 law enforcement officials within the state of Michoacán.
The slayings in central Mexico on Thursday added to the 86 law enforcement officials who had been killed this yr already, in keeping with Causa en Común, a Mexican anti-corruption group that focuses on public safety.
Final yr was the deadliest yr for police for the reason that group started monitoring deaths in 2018, with at the very least 524 officers killed.
Like most crimes in Mexico, the vast majority of police killings go unpunished, safety analysts say.
“The sensation that’s left is that it’s doable to assault an agent of the state with out penalties,” mentioned Alejandro Hope, a Mexico Metropolis-based safety analyst. “If we are able to’t shield the lives of the police, how can we ask them to guard ours?”
The federal authorities instantly responded to the killings on Thursday by deploying components of the Marines, the Military and the Nationwide Guard to the realm, Mr. Martinez mentioned.
Officers made no fast remark about potential suspects within the assault.