Honduras Arrests Two More Suspects

Authorities announced the arrest of two additional suspects Saturday in an attack on a bus that killed 28 and wounded 14, while thousands of soldiers searched for more of the gunmen and families buried the victims.

Six children and 22 adults died Thursday when suspected gang members with assault rifles cornered a city bus in San Pedro Sula, less than 125 miles north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, and sprayed it with gunfire.

Services for the victims were held under sunny skies on Christmas Day, as about 2,000 soldiers combed the slums and outskirts of San Pedro Sula for those responsible.

Suspected gang member Alexis Ramirez, 23, was arrested shortly after the attack. The car he was driving contained two assault rifles, two pistols and ammunition, officials said.

Two suspected gang members were arrested in Cofradia, near San Pedro Sula, and authorities said Saturday that they were linked to the attack.

“We are not revealing more details for the moment to avoid interfering with the investigations,” said Security Minister Oscar Alvarez. “But we have concrete leads that soon will clear up the killings.”

Deputy Police Commissioner Wilmer Torres said that Ramirez was a member of the Mara Salvatrucha, a gang known for committing shock killings, and that the car he drove resembled one that was spotted at the scene of the attack.

President Ricardo Maduro said, “To the families of the victims ... Honduras cries for them.” He said the government would donate wooden caskets and $550 to the victims’ families, and planned assistance for children orphaned by the attack.

Maduro, whose son was killed in a kidnapping attempt in 1997, took office in 2001 promising to eliminate the country’s prolific gangs, many of which began in Los Angeles in the 1980s and spread to El Salvador and Honduras after members were deported.

Honduras’ congress approved a law in 2003 that set 12-year prison sentences for gang members, and El Salvador followed suit.