Republished January 28, 2019 - 2:20 PM
Original Publication Date January 28, 2019 - 1:41 PM
ACAPULCO, Mexico - Authorities found two more bodies Monday from a shootout in the troubled southern Mexican state of Guerrero, raising the clash's death toll to 12.
State security spokesman Roberto Alvarez said in a statement that the dead were discovered near where the other 10 victims were killed the previous day. Two firearms, a tactical vest and five pickup trucks were recovered. Two people were also wounded.
The violence erupted along a highway near the town of Paraiso de Tepila, in Chilapa municipality.
Alvarez said Sunday that the confrontation was between two groups of apparent civilian community police.
But community co-ordinator Jesus Placido said Monday that about 200 armed men believed to belong to a gang known as Los Ardillos, or "the squirrels," tried to enter the villages of Zoyapezco and Rincon de Chautla and were repelled by locals in a two-hour firefight.
Placido said villagers have warned state and federal authorities since December that a large number of armed men were prowling around the area. He said they asked for governmental and military intervention to handle the problem but got no response.
Guerrero is a centre of drug production and trafficking and has seen regular violence amid warring gangs.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019