Toll rises to 12 from shootout in Mexico's Guerrero state
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — 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 coordinator 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 center of drug production and trafficking and has seen regular violence amid warring gangs.
