Four police officers in the city of Celaya in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato were killed in a shootout with suspected criminals, local authorities said Thursday.
The events unfolded on Wednesday evening as police drove along a street in this district, considered the most violent in Mexico. In 2023, more than 3,000 homicides were committed there.
“On Wednesday evening, four members of the General Directorate of the Municipal Police died after they were cowardly attacked by gunmen on the road from Celaya to Salvatierra,” the municipal security secretary said in a statement.
Following this attack, an operation to arrest the perpetrators was launched in collaboration with the State Police and the National Guard.
According to local media, two other people, apparently civilians, were killed in the shooting, but this information has not been confirmed by authorities.
According to the organization Causa en Común (Common Cause), Guanajuato is also the state that suffered the highest number of police killings in 2023, with 60 deaths.
This district, home to a thriving industrial center, has been rocked by various crimes resulting from conflicts between cartels controlling drug trafficking and stolen fuel.
In December, an armed commando stormed a hacienda in the municipality of Salvatierra where around a hundred young people were celebrating the New Year, leaving eleven people dead. On December 4, five medical students were found dead in Celaya.
According to official figures, more than 420,000 people have been killed in Mexico since December 2006, when the federal government launched a controversial military offensive against drugs, most of them victims of criminal activity.