GUNMEN KILL CHIEF OF MEXICO'S POLICE

MEXICO CITY -- Gunmen assassinated the acting chief of Mexico's
federal police early on Thursday morning in the most brazen attack so
far in the year-and-a-half-old struggle between the government and
organized crime gangs.

The Mexican police have been under constant attack since President
Felipe Calderon took office in December 2007 and started an offensive
against drug cartels that had corrupted the municipal police forces
and local officials in several towns along the border with the United
States and on both coasts.

Since then, Mr. Calderon has sent thousands of federal agents and
troops into those areas to establish law and order, provoking
retaliation from drug cartels that have killed about 200 officers,
among them at least 30 federal agents.

The acting chief, Edgar Millan Gomez, was ambushed by several men
wearing rubber gloves and carrying weapons as he entered his apartment
building in the Guerrero neighborhood of Mexico City with two
bodyguards at 2:30 a.m. He was hit eight times in the chest and once
in a hand. He died a few hours later at Metropolitan Hospital.

Commander Millan was the highest ranking official to be killed since
Mr. Calderon's campaign against drug dealers began. Intelligence
officials said it was highly likely that he was killed in retribution
for the arrest on Jan. 21 of Alfredo Beltran Leyva, one of the leaders
of a cartel based in Sinaloa State.

"It was in response to his role in the arrest," said one intelligence
officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to release classified information. "It's the worst casualty
we have suffered so far."

Commander Millan, 41, had served for the last year as the federal
police official in charge of the antidrug operations throughout the
country. A month ago, he was promoted to become the acting chief of
the entire force.

His death was the 10th assassination of a federal police official in
the last two months. Last week, gunmen also shot and killed the head
of the organized crime division in the public security ministry,
Roberto Velasco Bravo.

One of Commander Millan's bodyguards, though wounded, managed to
wrestle an attacker to the ground and arrest him. The man, Alejandro
Ramirez Baez, 34, carried a pistol with a silencer, the police said.
Shells from an assault rifle were also found at the scene. The police
said Mr. Ramirez had a criminal record, having been convicted twice
for stealing cars. It remained unclear who, if anyone, had hired him
as an assassin, they said.

Commander Millan started his career in Mexico's intelligence service
and switched in 2001 to the newly formed Federal Agency of
Investigation, where he rose quickly to become the chief of the
kidnapping division. He dismantled several notorious kidnapping rings
and managed the successful release of Ruben Omar Romano, a
professional soccer coach.