The World : Mexico Gun Battle Kills 21

Drug dealers in the village of Cahuapan in southern Mexico ambushed a police patrol and 21 people were killed in a gun battle, all of them reportedly federal and state policemen, the attorney general’s office in Mexico City and Veracruz state authorities said. The officers were searching for marijuana plantations as part of a government anti-drug campaign when they were ambushed. Some were killed immediately and others were captured, tortured and shot with their hands behind their backs, a statement by the Veracruz administration added. Soldiers were sent to take charge of the site, along the mountainous border of Veracruz and Oaxaca states.