Mexico, Guadalupe grenade attack: 14 injured in grenade attack in Guadalupe, Mexico
Reporting from Mexico City —
Families were out for the night air, taking a stroll in the central plaza in the northern Mexican city of Guadalupe when presumed drug traffickers hurled grenades into the crowd. At least 14 people, more than half of them children, were injured, authorities said Sunday.
The assailants in the attack Saturday rode in two SUVs and quickly escaped the plaza. Several witnesses told Milenio television that local police blocked traffic after the explosion to clear the way for the attackers.
Mayor Ivonne Alvarez said she could not confirm that municipal police worked as accomplices but agreed to investigate “irregularities” with state authorities.
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City Hall may have been the intended target. Five mayors were killed in a six-week period in August and September, including two in the Monterrey area. In one incident, local police were arrested in connection with the mayor’s death.
Genaro Garcia Luna, the country’s top security official, said recently that traffickers allot nearly $100 million a month to buy off municipal cops. He advocates replacing local police with state agencies reporting to a single national command.
The injured in Guadalupe included eight children, authorities said, the youngest age 2. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening.
About 24 hours earlier, grenades exploded at three locations in Monterrey — near a Justice Ministry building, the U.S. Consulate and a television station. One guard was reported injured at the ministry building, and damage was minimal. U.S. Consulate employees in Monterrey were ordered last month to send their children back to the United States because of mounting violence.
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Police stand guard at the site of a grenade attack in Guadalupe. The plaza still bore decorations from last month’s bicentennial celebrations. (Reuters / October 2, 2010)