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By Chris Covert
Nine individuals were found dead including six municipal police officers in two separate incidents in far western Zacatecas state Sunday morning according to Mexican news accounts.
The officers were part of the Valparaiso municipality police corporation and were to stake out a music concert being held in a remote mountain community between Zacatecas and Durango state in Ameca municipality.
The officers were found Sunday morning on the road to Ameca immolated in their official vehicles. Reports say armed suspects travelling aboard several trucks were seen near the concert in Ameca Saturday night. The police were apparently ambushed on their return leg.
Reports also say the police died when their attackers used a detonated 40mm grenade against them, which caused the fire.
The dead police were identified as Miguel �ngel RamÃÂrez Fernandez, Pedro Oliveros Torres, Samuel Ochoa Padilla, Geronimo Matilde Gutierrez, Rogelio MartÃÂnez MartÃÂnez and José Refugio Alanis.
Zacatecas ministerial police agents investigating the murders also found three unidentified individuals who had been shot to death nearby also on the road to Ameca.
The dead trio were identified as Jose Manuel Rodriguez Padilla, 22, Carlos Quintero, 24, both of Ameca and Tomas Rodriguez Medina, 24 from Lagunita in Durango.
Violence in southern Zacatecas and in Jalisco has been ramping up as several cartels and minor gangs allied with the Sinaloa Cartel have been forming alliances to attack and destroy Los Zetas. A recent report by the US security consulting firm StratFor say it expects violence to reach its crescendo by the end of this year.
Zacatecas has kong been considered a Los Zetas stronghold, but with the new alliances dedicated to destroying Los Zetas and a successful series of large counternarcotics operations in southern Zacatecas and northern Jalisco by Mexican security forces last spring, Los Zetas' hold in the state may be slipping.
In related news, Zacatecas governor Miguel Alonso Reyes said at a Thursday press conference that ongoing fighting between Los Zetas and the Gulf cartels in southern Zacatecas state and northern Jalsico state will require greater presence of national security forces including army, marines and Policia Federal units.
Miguel Alonso Reyes also confirmed that three army rifle battalions were to be permanently deployed to Zacatecas, not three rifle companies as previously reported, requiring the construction of facilities to house troops within the border of Zacatecas costing the state MP $2.5 billion pesos (USD $185,974,500.00).
Bases, probably for company sized detachments, are said to be under construction in Fresnillo and in Jalapa. Five other bases are to be built near the borders of Aguascalientes state and San Luis Potosi state. The base in Jalapa is said to be already occupied.
Also related:
- Five members of the Los Zetas criminal gang were captured in a rescue operation in southern Zacatecas last Wednesday.
Mexican Army and Zacatecas state police units had set up a checkpoint on Highway Mexico 45, but the site commander was given information that armed suspects aboard three pickup trucks had stopped about a kilometer short of the checkpoint. The new information prompted soldiers to mount up and close on the location. The action sparked a vehicle pursuit.
During the pursuit north, the driver of the Ford Lobo (F-150) crashed into a Ford farm truck. Police detained five armed suspects and found the two kidnap victims were in fact members of a rival gang. Both men were found handcuffed and severely beaten.
Security forces seized a number of weapons related part and military uniforms, including combat boots.
Detainees include Adrian Valenzuela Chavez, Adam Emmanuel Guerrero Rodriguez, of Monclova, Coahuila, Juan Jose Gaytan Romo, of Trancoso, Zacatecas, Ricardo Nieves Valadez, of Zacatecas, Zacatecas and Rafael Ruiz Palos.
Rescued were Juan Jose Moreno, 25 of Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco and Jose Antonio Cruz Torres, of Villa Garcia, Zacatecas