Gunmen execute four after ambush on ambulance in northern Mexico

[News_Editor]

Gunmen execute four after ambush on ambulance in northern Mexico

2011-12-09 09:11:08 GMT+7 (ICT)

JUAREZ, MEXICO (BNO NEWS) -- A group of gunmen attacked an ambulance in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez on Wednesday, local authorities confirmed Thursday. Four people were killed.

The ambulance, which was being operated by the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), was traveling from the city of Nuevo Casas Grandes in the northwestern part of Chihuahua state to the city of Juarez when it was attacked by unidentified gunmen.

Municipal police said the attack began when a truck crashed into the ambulance, which was carrying two paramedics and two patients being transported to a Juarez clinic for kidney failure treatment. The ambulance was forced to stop due to the impact.

After being surrounded by two trucks, all four people in the ambulance were forced to exit the vehicle before a group of unidentified gunmen executed them at the scene. It was not immediately known who was behind the attack.

Ciudad Juárez is regarded as the most violent city in Mexico. As a critical site for drug traffickers, violence in the city has increased dramatically since President Felipe Calderón intensified the crackdown on organized crime in 2006.

Hundreds of women have been killed in the northern city since 1993, while those responsible for the crimes have largely remained free. The Mexican government has failed to act despite numerous calls by international human rights organizations and local groups to continue the investigations. There have been claims that some officials may be involved in the crimes.

On Tuesday, the United Nations condemned the attack on Norma Andrade, co-president of the advocacy organization "Our Daughters Return Home," who was shot five times by unknown assailants last Friday in Juarez. Andrade became an activist after her daughter, a 17-year-old maquiladora worker, was kidnapped and found murdered in February 2001.

According to government figures, a total of 15,273 drug-related crimes were reported to authorities in Mexico in 2010. More than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderón began his campaign to fight organized crime in December 2006, although some estimates put that number at more than 45,000.

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