A series of clashes between Coahuila police and armed civilians left at least 21 dead, including four policemen, in the New Union community, authorities reported.
The governor of Coahuila said at a news conference Saturday that 14 people had been killed in the attack.
The confrontation broke out shortly before noon when, in New Union, Coahuila state, local police detected several vehicles with heavily armed civilians touring the community, requiring military intervention.
Photo: Quartercuro
The Coahuila government has identified four local policemen and seven suspected criminals among the dead. The prosecutor’s office located three other bodies at night, which are presumed to be civilians, on a rural road.
“There are seven armed civilians already gunned down, with three more (unidentified) bodies that have already been reported to the prosecution (…) and the four elements of law enforcement that unfortunately lost their lives,” Governor Coahuila, Miguel Angel Riquelme, told the press.
In a statement sunday, coahuila’s Secretariat of Public Security reported that during the early morning “seven other criminals were shot.”
The authorities reported that the subjects were reassured three more vans, shotguns, weapons and cartridges.
The Command Center established by the @GobDeCoahuila to coordinate the deployment of forces for the capture of the group that carried out an attack yesterday in the municipality of #VillaUnión, reported that during the early morning of today 7 other criminals were shot. pic.twitter.com/5l1kuNX3Cq
— Government of Coahuila (@GobDeCoahuila) December 1, 2019
“The Coahuila government continues to coordinate the operation through which the entire region is swept away, and in which, in addition to the overland deployment on roads, roads and breaches, the search by air with two helicopters continues,” he said.
The government reported missing an adult and a child on Saturday. In the operation, twelve pickup trucks and several high-caliber weapons and ammunition were seized.
Six policemen were injured, but according to Riquelme they are not serious and most were already discharged.
The ruler arrived in New Union at nightfall and in a video uploaded on his Facebook showed the mayoralty of the community with numerous shots and broken glass.
Drug trafficking attack
Riquelme attributed the attack to the Northeast cartel, which emerged in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas after the violent criminal group of the Zetas split.
The clashes were recorded in different parts of New Union, a town of about 5,400 inhabitants located about 60 kilometers from the border with the United States and that according to authorities was “very quiet” and was oblivious to violence linked to drug trafficking.
“Surprisely they presented thetwo (the armed men). From what you can see they wanted to cause ‘noise’ in the entity, chaos and fear,” Riquelme said.
Municipal authorities showed videos of the confrontation in which local police are seen calling for support from state and federal forces as they were overtaken.
—
With information from AFP
What we do in Animal Político requires professional journalists, teamwork, dialogue with readers and something very important: independence. You can help us keep going. Be part of the team.
Subscribe to Animal Politician, receive benefits and support free journalism.#YoSoyAnimal
