An army captain and six civilians were killed in one of four attacks against police and military forces in Guerrero this week that left a combined total of 10 fatalities.

Armed men attacked a military convoy at around 7:30am yesterday in El Naranjo, a community in the coastal municipality of La Unión, which borders Michoacán.

According to the police report, soldiers were conducting a routine patrol when they were shot at from inside a home.

The soldiers returned fire, leading to a gun battle that caused the seven deaths.

State security spokesman Roberto Álvarez Heredia said that six aggressors died at the scene of the incident while the army captain, identified only as Juan Manuel “N”, died en route to a hospital in Michoacán.

Armed civilians also attacked a group of state police officers yesterday on the Acapulco-Chilpancingo federal highway at a location around 10 kilometers south of the latter city near the community of Petaquilas.

Two civilians were killed and one police officer was wounded in the ensuing shootout and a self-defense group from Petaquilas blocked the highway for two hours after the incident.

Earlier in the week, two ministerial police officers were attacked Wednesday in the Acapulco neighborhood of Ciudad Renacimiento while investigating an extortion case.

According to a statement issued by the Guerrero Attorney General’s office, the incident occurred at around 1:00pm in the El Rinconcito restaurant.

The officers returned fire and one civilian was killed. Both officers were wounded and subsequently received medical attention.

Twelve spent bullet casings were found at the scene.

Also in Acapulco, armed civilians ambushed a contingent of state police officers Monday, wounding five including a policewoman. The officers were carrying out a patrol of La Venta neighborhood when the attack occurred.

In other incidents in the state’s most famous tourist draw, armed men set five cars on fire yesterday in a private parking lot and a man was shot on the city’s malecón, or seaside promenade.

Guerrero is one of Mexico’s most violent states and the nation’s largest opium poppy producer.

In a report published by the Washington Post last year, Acapulco was described as Mexico’s murder capital.

Source: El Universal (sp), Noticieros Televisa (sp)