Mexican army makes large opium seizure

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Published: November 7, 2009

MORELIA, Mexico (AP) — One Mexican policeman was killed and four wounded Saturday in an attack by gunmen in a drug-plagued state in southern Mexico.

Authorities said gunmen opened fire on two police patrol vehicles responding to reports of a dead body left on a roadside.

Authorities in the town of La Union, in Guerrero state near the border with Michoacan, said the unidentified gunmen fled following the attack. The victims were Guerrero state police officers.

Another body was found in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz on Saturday with its arms and legs mutilated and its head hacked off. The head was found in a plastic bag next to the body.

A message left with the body read: "This is for showing disrespect for the letter 'Z'," a common reference to the Zetas drug gang.

The body was wearing a state Public Safety department T-shirt, and assistant state prosecutor Jose Luis Peri said authorities are investigating whether the victim may be a police officer.

On Tuesday, federal police and navy personnel shot to death a top Zetas cartel suspect in the same area. The navy said suspect Braulio Arellano Dominguez was the reputed leader of the Zetas in Veracruz. The Zetas are a gang of hit men tied to the Gulf Cartel.

In the border state of Baja California, prosecutors said Saturday that gunmen attacked a hotel used by federal police agents in the city of Tijuana. One civilian at the hotel was seriously wounded in late Friday's attack, but no police officers were injured.

The motive remains under investigation, but Tijuana has been one of the areas affected by drug-related violence that has cost more than 13,800 lives since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels in December 2006.

Also Saturday, the federal Attorney General's Office said it was bringing homicide and attempted homicide charges against four Chihuahua state police and two city police in the state's capital in connection with the shooting of an investigative agent during a confrontation earlier this month.

The agent had reportedly tried to stop a group of suspicious vehicles, when their occupants opened fire on him.