MANHUNT AFTER SHOOTOUT AT U.S.MEXICO BORDER

PHOENIX (Reuters) A manhunt was under wayMonday for several heavily armed
men who shot and killed a Mexican customs agent in a gunbattle near a busy
border crossing, U.S. and Mexican officials said.

Six to eight men fled into the Mexican interior after the violent
confrontation Sunday with customs agents that left two other people
injured, according to Roberto Rodriguez, Mexican consul in nearby Nogales,
Ariz.

The Mexican agents came under fire when they seized $123,000 in suspected
drug money from a van crossing the border from Arizona, he said.

Details were sketchy Monday as authorities tried to piece together what
happening during one of the most violent border incidents in recent years.

It forced the closure of the port for more than three hours Sunday. Traffic
was routed to another port several miles away.

Authorities said the incident began at about 6:30 p.m. when a van with
Arizona license plates was stopped for a routine check. Three people were
inside.

Agents became suspicious of a package inside the vehicle that they were
told was a wedding gift. Two of the occupants then tried to flee with the
package and were apprehended.

``Suddenly six or eight people appeared with automatic weapons and started
shooting,'' Rodriguez said. ``They executed one of the officers with a shot
to the head.''

The agent was identified as Jose Toledo Guadarrama, 31.

A U.S. customs official said that as many as 50 bullets were fired during
the attack, which lasted just minutes.

Rodriguez said the attackers then escaped into the interior of Mexico
before they could be apprehended.

`It's so rare for this to happen,'' he said. ``And for this to happen over
so little money is hard to understand.''

Roger Maier, a U.S. customs spokesman in El Paso, Texas, said the incident
is further evidence that the 2,000milelong southwestern border has become
an increasingly violent place to patrol.

``Things like this are more common than have been in the past,'' Maier
said. ``It's an issue that's become a concern.''