At least 13 police officers killed in ambush in southern Mexico

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO CITY (AA) - At least 13 police officers were killed late Monday in an ambush in southern Mexico's Guerrero state.

The municipal police chief was killed along with his guards during the attack.

According to the State Prosecutor's Office, at least five officers were subdued and tied up by the gunmen and then executed.

The Secretary of Public Security of Coyuca de Benítez, Alfredo Alonso Lopez, was found among the dead as well as the Director of Public Security, Honorio Salinas.

Initial reports said the armed group ambushed the officers while they were monitoring the area.

The massacre was carried out between Acapulco and Zihuatanejo, which are major tourist hotspots in Guerrero.

It happened a month after the killing of other security officials in the state.

On Sept. 12, the head of the Attorney General's Office in Guerrero, Fernando Garcia, was shot dead in the state’s capital Chilpancingo, days after the murder of public prosecutor Victor Manuel Salas.

The coastal state has been historically plagued by violence, a product of the establishment of large criminal syndicates responsible for the manufacture and trafficking of drugs in the country.

State Attorney General Sandra Luz Valdovinos has pointed to La Familia Michoacana, one of Mexico's most violent and powerful drug cartels, as one of Guerrero's main generators of violence. ​​​​​​​

In September, the state reported 1,289 murders, marking one of the most violent periods for Guerrero.