Mexico Under Siege

STREET SHOOTOUT STRIKES FEAR IN ACAPULCO

As Many As Six People Are Killed As Gunmen Open Fire on Motorists and
Federal Police

A chaotic shootout Wednesday on a hotel-lined boulevard in the beach
resort city of Acapulco left as many as six people dead, Mexican
authorities said.

Federal police officers patrolling the area came under fire after
they heard gunshots and saw attackers shooting at two men in a car,
authorities said. The gunmen also shot at other vehicles as they
tried to flee, riddling dozens of cars with bullet holes.

The victims included a woman and her 8-year-old daughter. No tourists
appeared to have been killed. A federal officer was also slain during
the shootout with gunmen, which erupted on busy Miguel Aleman
Boulevard, the main tourist drag.

Five people were wounded, according to public safety authorities in
Guerrero state.

The midafternoon gun battle could be heard in nearby hotels. Hundreds
of spent casings from AK-47 assault rifles -- the type favored by
drug-gang hit men -- littered the street. Cars reportedly crashed
into one another as innocent drivers tried to escape the shooting.

Guests and workers at the beach-side Hotel Playa Suites, next to
where the shooting took place, were rattled by the confusing scene as
police poured into the area.

"Police arrived and they kept our guests and workers from leaving,
and this unfortunately caused panic among our guests," said Laura
Toledo, a reservations manager. "Our customers weren't aware of the
shootout, and they became alarmed when so many federal police arrived."

She said most of the guests are foreigners.

In June, 18 people were killed in a fierce battle between suspected
drug cartel gunmen and government forces in a separate section of
Acapulco's hotel zone, favored by Mexican visitors. None of the dead
were tourists.

Wednesday's shootout, in one of the country's best-known resort towns
during the spring vacation season, is unwelcome news for Mexican
officials. Mexico has repeatedly sought to reassure tourists that
they face little risk of being caught up in the country's escalating
drug violence because most of it takes place far from resort areas.

More than 22,000 people have died since the government of President
Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown against drug traffickers in
December 2006. Most of the killings stem from feuds between rival
trafficking groups along the U.S. border and in key trafficking zones.

Acapulco, which has sought to regain its former glory as a stylish
tourist haven, has seen scores of drug-related gang killings during
the last three years, though few were in areas frequented by tourists.

The resort is in the Pacific state of Guerrero, an important
smuggling corridor and, like many other tourist spots, also coveted
by traffickers as a market for street sales.

Turf battles among rival gangs have left more than 300 people dead in
and around Acapulco since the Calderon administration's crackdown
began, according to confidential government figures cited Wednesday.