ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Two days of gunbattles in a southern Mexico mountain town killed 13 people, officials said Thursday.
Six gunmen and one Guerrero state police officer died in Chilapa late Wednesday, the state prosecutor’s office said. Four officers also were wounded when the gunmen apparently attacked a police station. One suspect, a minor, was also wounded and detained.
The office said four assault rifles and a machine pistol were seized at the scene.
On Tuesday, five gunmen and one woman died in another gunbattle in Chilapa, which is about 70 miles northeast of Acapulco in an area where drug gangs are battling for turf.
The mayor of Chilapa, Francisco Garcia Gonzalez, told residents to remain in their homes because of the shootings on the town’s streets. He also discouraged residents from going out at night
The largely rural area is known as a prime growing region for opium poppies. Violence in the region has led some towns in the area to form “community police” vigilante groups.
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