DPA
Mexico City, May 28 (DPA) Violent clashes left 12 people - seven police officers and five civilians - dead in the Mexican state of Sinaloa early Tuesday, police said. The police officers were killed as they chased a group of armed men who had killed three young men on a street corner in the city of Culiacan, the authorities said.

On Monday, four police officers were found dead near Culiacan. They had been kidnapped on May 1, and their bodies showed signs of having been tortured.

In Tuesday’s incident, the alleged killers barricaded themselves inside a house and fought police from there. Security forces finally entered the house and seized 10 AK-47 and 6 HK-G3 rifles, among other weapons.

Mexico’s federal police said two alleged criminals were arrested inside the house, while another suspect was killed in the clash.

Another person died in a separate incident in Culiacan, after suffering a shot to the head, the local police said.

Murders in Mexico have increased by 47 percent in the first months of 2008, in comparison to a similar period in 2007, according to the country’s public prosecutor’s office.

According to Mexican authorities, 1,378 people were killed by organized crime in the country between January and May 22.
DPA