FEDERALES VOW TO FIGHT BACK AFTER DEADLY ATTACK

The ambush Friday in Juarez in which eight people were killed --
including six federal agents and a police officer -- may signal a new
wave of intimidation against authorities, officials and experts said Saturday.

The attack, carried out in broad daylight by a group of hit men,
solidified the resolve of Mexican federal police to fight back even
though it was one of the deadliest attacks on authorities in the city
since President Felipe Calderon launched the war on drug cartels.

Juarez officials said that the ambush will not deter them and that
they will not be intimidated by the calculated and ruthless attack.

"They want to intimidate us. But now we are going to double our
efforts to fight them," said Jose Salinas, spokesman for the federal
police in Mexico City.

As a result of the ambush, he said, a new strategy will be used to
"avoid similar ambushes."

"We will fight them," he said.

He did not elaborate on the new strategy.

Salinas said the attack on the agents was an act of desperation
because authorities are winning the overall war. He also said the
contingent of about 5,000 federal police agents will remain in the
city indefinitely and will continue to pressure the criminals.

The agents were gunned down when they stopped to assist a vendor who
had flagged them down about noon Friday. When they stopped, a group
of gunmen arrived and opened fire with AK-47s, high-powered rifles
and handguns. The agents tried to repel the attackers, but fell
victim in the shootout.

Officials said more than 300 shots were fired.

No arrests have been made, but police said they found a sign
scribbled on a wall in which La Linea, the Juarez drug cartel, takes
responsibility for the slayings and warns of further attacks.

The Juarez drug cartel has been entangled in a violent and vicious
war with the Sinaloa drug cartel, which is trying to muscle in to
take over the lucrative drug corridor into the United States.

Since the drug war began in 2008, nearly 5,000 people have been
killed in Juarez alone. More than 20,000 have been slain nationwide.
In Juarez, several police officers and at least one commander have
been killed in ambushes.

Friday's was the worst.

"An attack on federal police is a serious attack," said Dick Schwein,
a retired FBI special agent in charge in El Paso.

"It's an attack on government agents. But who did it?" he asked. "We
don't know it was a cartel shooting."

In response to the attack, Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said police
will be more cautious and will increase the number of officers and
agents working together to protect themselves.

He, too, said the attack will not stop officers and agents from doing
their jobs.

Saturday, the agents killed in the attack were honored in a memorial
in which they were remembered for their commitment to the agency.

The federal public safety secretary, Genaro Garcia Luna, described
the fallen agents as "heroes who gave their lives for an ideal: to
build a better country for everyone, for our children, our families
and the residents of Juarez."

Authorities on Friday speculated that the ambush was in retaliation
for Thursday's arrests of several people on drug and weapons charges.

The Juarez ambush was not the only attack on authorities in Mexico.

Saturday, in the Michoacan state capital of Morelia, gunmen armed
with assault rifles and grenades attacked a convoy carrying the top
security official of Michoacan, killing four and wounding 10.

Michoacan Public Safety Secretary Minerva Bautista was among the
wounded but was recovering from non-life-threatening injuries,
according to the state attorney general's office. She was traveling
in a bullet-resistant sport utility vehicle.

State Attorney General Jesus Montejano told the local Milenio
television station that the attackers used assault rifles, grenades,
a grenade launcher and a powerful .50-caliber sniper rifle whose
rounds are capable of penetrating bullet-resistant materials.