By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Seven individuals were killed in ongoing drug and gang related violence in southern Chihuahua state, including two Chihuahua state police agents according to Mexican news accounts.
A Chihuahua state police raid in Bocoyna municipality took the lives of three people, including two men and one woman.
According to a news report posted on the online edition of El Diario de Juarez news daily, a Policia Estatal Unica unit was dispatched to a farmhouse near the village of San Juanito on reports of armed suspects in the area Wednesday. At the location, the police agents were fired on. Police return fire hit and killed three.
One police agent were reported wounded in the encounter, but his wounds were not life threatening. A later news account said that three unidentified individuals were detained at the scene.
Police seized six rifles, one 9mm pistol,ammunition, tactical gear and several dozen vehicles.
Following the confrontation Chihuahua state Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE) Jorge Gonzalez Nicolas announced he would send additional police reinforcements to the area.
Later that same day armed suspects ambushed a police unit in Bocoyna municipality. According to a news account on the website of El Diario de Juarez, apparently in response to the police raid.
According to a report by the FGE, the attack took place on the road linking San Pedro to San Juanito at about the 24 kilometer marker. A total of four police agents were wounded, and two were killed on the gunfight. El Diario de Juarez said that the wounded total for the police was seven.
The area is said to be reinforced with state and federal forces, and one Mexican Army unit on patrol as a result of the new encounter.
Meanwhile in Guadalupe y Calvo municipality, two brothers were killed in an apparent home invasion Monday, according to a separate news report which appeared in on the website of El Diario de Juarez.
The victims were identified in the news account as Eufronio Ramos, 33, and Martin Olivas, 28.
The attack took place in the village of La Soledad de Abajo where several armed suspects entered the residence of an unidentified acquaintance of the two victims demanding firearms. The armed suspects searched the residence then took the three victims with them after failing to find weapons. The shooters then shot the victims a short distance away. The third victim was apparently wounded at the scene.
The bodies of the victims were found about 200 yards away. Police found spent cartridge casings for AK-47, AR-15 and .40 caliber.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. he can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com