8 DIE IN JUAREZ SHOOTOUT

Attack Is Considered Retaliation for Arrests

Six federal agents, a female police officer and a man died in Juarez
on Friday in a large-scale shootout in broad daylight -- an attack
authorities described as an ambush in retaliation for arrests made Thursday.

The ambush was one of the largest fatal attacks on law enforcement
officers since a drug war began in the city in 2008.

About noon, federal and municipal police vehicles were patrolling the
Bosques de Salvarcar neighborhood in south Juarez when a street
vendor at the intersection of Durango and Santiago Troncoso Avenues
asked for help.

When the officers stopped to assist, a group of armed men arrived in
several vehicles, opened fire and killed five federal agents and the
police officer.

Officials said the agents tried to fight off the attack and fired
their weapons at the attackers. In all, more than 300 shots were
fired, officials said.

Chihuahua state police said three other people were wounded,
including a federal agent who died five hours later at a hospital.

Federal officials said at least one hit man was wounded, but he and
the others fled. It's not known how many attackers were involved in
the ambush, a tactic that rarely takes place at such a large scale.

According to a state police preliminary investigation, at least three
types of weapons were used in the attack, including AK-47s, other
high-powered rifles and 9 mm handguns.

Federal agents were able to find two vehicles used by the gunmen in
the shooting, but no arrests were reported late Friday.

Municipal police spokesman Jacinto Segura said the local officer
killed was Ana Gustina Nevares Soto, 22, who joined the force in August.

Segura said Nevares Soto was a member of the Benito Juarez municipal
police command in south Juarez.

The federal agents killed were Romenio Velazquez Chavez, Pedro
Balderas Gonzalez, Juan Garcia Sanchez, Ulises Garcia Martinez,
Israel Alejandro Carbajal Cornejo and Jose Rivera Chavarria.

The other man who was killed was identified Gabriel Ornelas Sotelo,
between 25 and 30 years old. It's not known whether he was involved
in the shooting or was a bystander.

Mexican federal police spokes man Jose Salinas said authorities think
the attack was a retaliation for the arrests of eight people Thursday.

Police on Thursday arrested five men and three women on suspicion of
possession of drugs and high-caliber weapons.

Arrested were Jose Alfredo "Chito" Amaro Campos, 37, Alan Joseph Mena
Martinez, 18, Carmen Patricia Ayala Chavez, 18, and five minors.

"This (attack) is in response to the blows we have delivered," Salinas said.

After Friday's attack, Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz, said authorities will
be more careful in the way they operate.

Reyes Ferriz gave orders to the secretary of public safety to
increase the number of federal and municipal officers working
together when patrolling.

The number of units -- vehicles that have from two to eight officers
- -- will increase from two to at least three when they are on patrol, he said.

"We will not stop working and won't let this type of attack affect
the police work we're carrying out. However, we have to take
precautions to make sure federal and municipal police are safe while
patrolling the streets," Reyes Ferriz said.

He said the city is patrolled by 8,000 police officers -- 5,000
federal and 3,000 municipal. Law enforcement officers have been
killed in the past while on patrol, going to work or after their
shift, but not in numbers as large as in the ambush on Friday.

The city has been under a cloud of violence since Jan. 2008 when war
broke out between the Juarez and the Sinaloa drug cartels. Since
then, nearly 5,000 have been killed in an near Juarez.