Violence in Veracruz yesterday took the lives of four municipal police officers who were attacked and killed in the municipality of Tezonapa, located in the central mountainous region of the state and an area where petroleum theft is common.

Armed civilians in the town of Motzorongo drove up to a municipal police patrol car and started shooting, killing an officer and severely injuring another.

Minutes later, a second group of police officers was attacked on the highway between Tezonapa and Laguna Chica by armed commandos who opened fire. Three police officers lost their lives, along with two civilians.

In the south of the state two men were found dead in a street in the port city of Coatzacoalcos; they had been tortured.

A woman’s body, minus the head, was found in the municipality of Puente Nacional, adjoining the port of Veracruz.

Source: El Universal (sp)