5 killed in gunfight in violent Mexican state

Mexico City — Five people died and eight were wounded in Mexico on Wednesday during a gunfight in the troubled southwestern state of Guerrero, where 43 students disappeared and were presumed murdered last year.

Mexico’s interior ministry said that the clash between civilians occurred in Tlacotepec, a mountainous area where drug traffickers grow poppies used to make heroin.

Earlier on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Guerrero state prosecutor’s office had said there were 10 dead and 20 injured.The interior ministry later issued a statement with the revised numbers.

On Tuesday, in a different part of Guerrero, state prosecutors said they would launch an investigation into the disappearance of 15 people last week.

Guerrero was the site of the kidnapping and probable killing of 43 students last year, which rocked a nation accustomed to bloodshed and embroiled President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration in a deep crisis. — AFP