TO AVOID TRAVEL TO MEXICO IS A WISE DECISION. TAKE A LOOK AT THIS STORY!
BY NIGHT. UNFORTUNATELY, RESORT CITIES AND
TOWNS HAVE BECOME VERY DANGEROUS DUE TO THE
ONGOING DRUG CARTEL TURF WARS WHICH TAKES THE
LIVES OF MEXICAN CITIZENS AND TOURISTS AS WELL.
RAPE, DECAPITATION, KIDNAPPING AND EXTORTION
IS ALSO RAMPANT!
TRAVEL TO MEXICO SHOULD BE AVOIDED IF AT ALL
POSSIBLE!
UPDATE FROM YAHOO NEWS:
By NATALIA PARRA, Associated Press Writer Natalia Parra, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 51 mins ago
ACAPULCO, Mexico – Soldiers fought for two hours with armed men apparently holding police hostage at a house in Acapulco, leaving one soldier and 15 gunmen dead, a military official said Sunday.
Three soldiers and three Mexican bystanders were wounded. Several Mexican tourists were evacuated from small hotels in the old Acapulco neighborhood, which was once popular with Hollywood stars but has since become run-down.
The gunbattle erupted Saturday night when soldiers received a tip about the presence of armed men at a gated house, said an army colonel who led the operation and spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The gunmen opened fire and hurled some 50 grenades at soldiers who arrived at the house, according to the colonel, who wore a ski mask as he led reporters through the scene.
Several gunmen tried to flee, but crashed their car into a Humvee blocking the gate. At one point during the fighting, armed men with grenades arrived in a car to reinforce the gunmen in the house, but they died in the shooting, the colonel said.
Soldiers found four Guerrero state police officers handcuffed inside the garage of the house, the colonel said. The officers, who were still bound and sitting the floor when reporters arrived, said they were being held captive by the gunmen, the colonel said.
The soldiers did not know the police were inside when the shootout began, and the colonel said their claims would be investigated.
"We found them like this, handcuffed, and they say they were kidnapped. So, if they were kidnapped, as they say, then we rescued them," the colonel said, pointing to the four men.
Residents cowered inside their homes and several small, low-cost hotels while the fighting lasted.
When the shooting subsided, several people too scared to stay in the area were evacuated in an ambulance.
PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK TO GO TO TIME MAGAZINE'S PHOTO
GALLERY ABOUT MEXICO'S DRUG WARS:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1651420,00.html
FROM REUTERS NEWS SERVICE:
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Heavily armed men killed at least 16 people, all members of a ranchers' association, in two different massacres in southern Mexico over the weekend, Mexican media said on Sunday.
Some 40 men riding in luxury vehicles and wearing uniforms of an elite police squad shot nine people dead in the town of Petatlan in the state of Guerrero on Sunday, El Universal newspaper reported.
And a group toting automatic weapons killed seven people in the town of Iguala, also in Guerrero, on Saturday.
Reforma newspaper said the ranchers were holding a meeting in Iguala and at least two of the sons of the association's state leader, Rogaciano Alba, were killed in Sunday's attack.
Alba himself has survived two other attacks in the past, Reforma said.
The newspapers did not say what could have triggered the attacks but well-armed drug traffickers are active in Guerrero, a poor, mountainous state on the Pacific coast home to the Acapulco beach resort.
Clashes over land rights or local politics are also common in Guerrero.
the nation! *** Califstarheart *
