Six police officers have been shot and killed in the space of less than 24 hours in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area.

The first incident took place yesterday morning in the Loma Dorada neighborhood of Tonalá when armed civilians attacked a senior police officer and his three bodyguards. The senior officer, who was third in command of the Guadalajara police, had just left his home when the attack took place.

The police returned the fire and wounded some of the attackers, but all four officers died at the scene and the aggressors escaped.

The mayor-elect of Guadalajara said the attack was in response to “the good job” that Eduardo Plazola had been doing to combat crime.

“He was a commander who was at the head of all the operations in which there had been arrests; he had produced results . . .” said Ismael del Toro.

The police force said the same in a statement. The attack was a result of “important arrests of members of organized crime groups” in recent weeks.

Two more officers were killed late last night in Zapopan while investigating the theft of a vehicle. After a chase, they caught up with the suspects in El Mante. But the latter opened fire, killing one officer at the scene. The second died later in hospital.

Source: Informador (sp), Milenio (sp)