Attack by drug cartel kills five in Mexico

Morelia (Mexico), Jan 13 (IANS/EFE) Five people were killed and eight others wounded in an attack apparently by a drug cartel in Mexico, prosecutors said Monday.

The attack, believed to be perpetrated by the members of the Caballeros Templarios drug cartel, occurred Sunday in Huahua, a community outside the coastal city of Aquila, in the Mexican state of Michoacan, the state attorney general's office said.

The victims were Nahua Indians and the members of a vigilante group, who were attacked as they were patrolling the road that links Huahua to the El Socorro ranch, the attorney general's office said.

The gunmen managed to escape, officials said, adding that the wounded were transported to various medical facilities in the area around Aquila.

Caballeros Templarios gunmen tried to murder Cemei Verdia, the commander of the community self-defence group in Aquila, Dec 16, but they attacked the wrong vehicle, injuring four people, including a child.

Verdia and his men captured one of the hitmen, identified as Jonathan Aguilar, who said that the attack was ordered by Federico Gonzalez, a leader of the cartel.

Aquila, one of three cities in the state of Michoacan that lie on the Pacific coast, is mainly inhabited by the Nahua Indians, who earn their living from mining in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains.

The Caballeros Templarios cartel was created in 2010 by former members of the La Familia Michoacana drug gang.

The cartel, which deals in both synthetic and natural drugs, commits murders, stages kidnappings and runs extortion rackets that target business owners and transport companies in Michoacan.

Residents in several towns and cities formed vigilante groups in February 2013 to fight the Caballeros Templarios.

The federal government has deployed police and the army in Michoacan to restore order.

--IANS/EFE

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