Five Federal police officers, three hitmen and two bystanders were killed and eight other officers were injured during a fierce ambush on the part of a Mexican drug cartel. At least a dozen vehicles with gunmen fired at police in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
The shootout took place in the city of Ocotlan, Jalisco when a convoy of Mexico’s new Gendarmerie was patrolling a neighborhood and drove by a white car parked in the side of the road, a news release from Mexico’s National Security Commission revealed.
As the convoy passed the white car, a gunman from inside the car pulled out a machine gun and began spraying the convoy forcing the officers to seek cover as they fought back the attack, the news release revealed.
As soon as the shooting started approximately a dozen vehicles with an unknown number of gunmen pulled up and began spraying the police convoy with machine guns and grenades.
The shooting lasted for several minutes during which two bystanders were killed and multiple vehicles nearby were struck by barrages of gunfire, Mexican officials said through their news release.
The shooting resulted in the death of five federal cops and three hitmen who were carrying military style gear and weapons. Eight other members of Mexico’s Gendarmerie also sustained injuries from the gun battle. After the shootout, Mexican police recovered seven assault rifles, five grenades and five trucks used by the gunmen during the fight.
While the border areas of Mexico have been the scene of fierce gun battles, this attack in Jalisco marks one of the first cases of urban warfare in the central part of Mexico in recent years. The area in Jalisco is run by groups tied to the Sinaloa Federation and the Cartel Nueva Generacion; however other cartels such as Los Zetas and Beltran Leyva have tried to gain a foothold in the area which would give them access to the Pacific Ocean. Mexican authorities have not confirmed which cartel was responsible for the attack.
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