Three federal police officers were killed and 18 were wounded on Saturday in attacks attributed to the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel in at least six different cities, police said. The onslaught on six federal police (PFP) bases in the western state of Michoacan was seen as retribution for the arrest on Friday of top La Familia member Arnoldo Rueda. After the arrest, gunmen “tried to rescue him and clashes began, in which 18 PFP members were wounded,” PFP regional chief Rodolfo Ruz told reporters. The three officers who died, Cruz said, were not on base, but in a vehicle close to a car crash on a road when they were attacked by an armed group traveling in a separate vehicle.
■UNITED STATES
Body found in air-con duct
A female body stuffed inside an air-conditioning duct was found on Saturday in a Manhattan skyscraper where a cleaning woman was last seen four days ago. Police discovered the corpse, hidden in a utility room duct, just before 9am as they began searching the 26-story tower for 46-year-old Eridania Rodriguez. The remains have not been officially identified, but police spokesman Paul Browne said investigators presumed the body was that of the Dominican-born Rodriguez, who had been missing since Tuesday night. A medical examiner was on the scene trying to confirm the find and determine how the woman died. Authorities believe she was murdered, but haven’t identified a suspect.
■HAITI
Five killed in boat accident
At least five people were killed when a boat capsized off the coast on Saturday, local authorities said, adding that 26 people aboard the vessel were rescued, but dozens more were missing. The search for bodies and possible survivors was called off for the day because local authorities lacked the necessary equipment, civil protection official Jean-Michel Sabbat said. Five bodies were picked out of the water, Sabbat said, updating an earlier toll that put the number of dead at six. The 26 people that were rescued were taken to Saint-Michel Hospital in Jacmel, a port town close to the shipwreck, he added.
■ARGENTINA
Six more die of swine flu
The Health Ministry reported six new swine flu deaths on Saturday, bringing to 94 the number of people killed by the A(H1N1) virus in South America’s worst-affected country. The number of confirmed infections with the virus rose to 2,929, Argentine Health Minister Juan Manzur said. Argentina is the world’s third worst-affected country in the global pandemic, behind only Mexico, with 121 confirmed deaths, and the US, where the Centers for Disease Control said on Friday the death toll stood at 221.
■UNITED STATES
Robber picks wrong car
Authorities say a parolee who robbed a Michigan bank was caught when he tried to hitch a ride from an undercover police detective. Mark White was arraigned on Friday on charges that include bank robbery and making a false bomb threat. He is being held at the Saginaw County Jail on US$755,000 bond. It was not clear whether White had an attorney. Authorities told the Saginaw News that White flagged down Saginaw Township Detective Scott Jackson on Wednesday after the bank robbery a few blocks away.
RSS