Mexico probes nine deaths amid report of extrajudicial executions

Mexico City, Jan 8 (IANS/EFE) Mexico's government has said autopsies will determine the cause of death of nine individuals purportedly killed in a pair of shootouts with federal agents in the western state of Michoacan, in a case clouded by a newspaper report indicating the possibility of extrajudicial executions.

Alfredo Castillo, the federal commissioner for security and development in Michoacan, said Wednesday it "would be irresponsible" of him to discuss allegations of extrajudicial executions prior to the results of the forensic tests.

In an interview with MVS Radio, Castillo said the autopsies, which were concluded Wednesday, would "leave no doubt as to what happened".

The nine individuals died during the course of an operation that began when federal security forces sought to retake the city hall in Apatzingan from a group of armed men early Tuesday.

One armed civilian was killed and two federal police personnel were wounded in that initial clash. The federal agents subsequently seized 14 rifles, five handguns, a grenade and 23 vehicles, most of which had been reported stolen.

Later, while those seized items were being transported to the city of Morelia, Michoacan's capital, "an armed group sought to confront the army soldiers and seize the vehicles from them, leading to a clash in which eight people died and two were wounded". Castillo said.

But Wednesday, the daily Reforma cited an eyewitness as saying that federal agents executed at least three of those individuals after they had surrendered.

An armed gang known as Los Viagras -- the former armed wing of the Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) and Familia Michoacana drug cartels -- has been accused of occupying the Apatzingan city hall several times since Dec 22.

The Viagras gang has also been linked to the vigilante groups that were formed in Michoacan in February 2013 and legalised by federal officials three months later under the Rural Force.

President Enrique Peña Nieto sent troops and federal police units into Michoacan in January 2014 to suppress the conflict between the Templarios and the vigilantes.

--IANS/EFE

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