A police convoy was passing through a small town in western Mexico on Monday morning when bullets began to fly. It was an ambush by one of Mexico’s most violent criminal groups.
In a matter of minutes, 14 police officers were killed and three others injured, while several of their vehicles set on fire.
Handwritten messages left at the scene were signed “CJNG” — short for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel — and accused the police of working with rival groups.
The supposed leader of the CJNG was killed by Michoacán police less than a week ago.
The police were carrying out a court order in El Aguaje, Michoacán state, when their convoy was ambushed.
El Aguaje is considered to be of strategic importance between two battling cartels: the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) and a splinter group of the Knights Templar called Los Viagras.
The federal government offered assistance to the state authorities after Monday’s attack.
Michoacán Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo said there would be “no impunity” for the attack on his officers.
However, the Jalisco cartel has grown much more powerful in recent years and there have been no significant victories against them by either the state or federal government, the BBC’s Will Grant in Mexico City reports.
