Mexican police were trying to determine on Friday who hung several banners in a colonial city blaming Gulf cartel hit men for a grenade attack that killed seven people in an Independence Day crowd.
Michoacan state prosecutor Miguel Garcia said officials removed the seven banners allegedly signed by the powerful La Familia drug gang and hung overnight from pedestrian bridges. Investigators were trying to determine whether they are authentic.
Federal investigators suspect a gang known as La Familia was behind Monday’s attack, in which two fragmentation grenades killed seven people and wounded 108 in the Michoacan state capital of Morelia.
Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora announced a 10 million peso (US$940,000) reward for anyone who provides information leading to the capture of those behind the attack. Details of the offer will be advertised in newspapers.
“We hope to get a response in the next hours to this offer,” Medina Mora said.
The banners blamed the Zetas, a notorious band of Gulf cartel hit men. A similar message was sent to the cellphones of reporters and residents earlier this week.
“Coward is the word for those who attack the country’s peace and tranquility,” read one of the signs. “Mexico and Michoacan are not alone. Thanks for your cowardly acts, Zetas. Sincerely, F.M.” — the Spanish initials for “Michoacan Family.”
The text messages and the banners raised doubts about a supposed alliance between La Familia and the Gulf cartel.
It remains unclear why drug traffickers would turn from killing their enemies to carrying out attacks against the general public, something unheard of in Mexico. Governments around the globe have condemned it.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who promised an immediate military response, said he would send Congress a security package on Friday calling for better training and better equipment for police, among other measures.
The government also announced rewards of 1,000 pesos to 5,000 pesos for citizens who provide information leading to the arrest of any criminals.
Authorities were still searching for suspects in the Morelia attack and have released a composite sketch of one, based on descriptions from witnesses who saw a tall man lob a grenade into the crowd, beg for forgiveness and then slip away.
Federal investigators determined two men detained by the army on Thursday in the northern state of Zacatecas were not involved.
Officials said they received a threat against Michoacan’s military parade on Tuesday, but not Monday night’s celebrations.
Excelsior newspaper obtained a copy of the call, made a week before the attacks. In it, a man who said he belonged to La Familia warned that the gang was planning to lob grenades at soldiers marching in the traditional Sept. 16 military parade, and he asked officials to keep schoolchildren at a distance.
“Our problem is with the military, not civilians,” the caller was quoted as saying.
Mexico’s relentless violence continued on Friday with a shootout between police and armed men in the central state of Guanajuato.
Mexican media said several officers and gunmen were wounded.
Twelve suspects were arrested, Medina Mora told a news conference. In an earlier interview with Radio Formula, he said members of La Familia may have been involved.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS