A group of militants attacked Omar police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch in the affluent diplomatic district of the Mexican capital on Friday, who escaped the incident with injuries and is out of danger. However, at least two police officers and one casual passerby died in the clash, Reuters reported, citing local officials. According to the prosecutor’s office, the police arrested 12 people. Harfucha said on Twitter that the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) drug cartel was probably behind the attack.
According to the Mexican media, the aggressors had assault rifles and grenades. They were hidden in a truck dressed as road workers.
The attack took place in the affluent Lomas de Chapultepec district, which also houses a number of embassies. However, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Mexico is located in the Anzures area, a few kilometers away. According to Reuters, violence in this western part of the city is rare, which has plagued many of the country’s poorest regions in recent years.
According to the mayor of the Mexican capital, Claudia Sheinbaum, around 6:30 local time (13:30 CET), a truck was parked on Harfuch’s car, with the attackers standing on the back of the fire, who opened fire. Among other things, they used sniper rifles and grenades during the attack. Two police officers and a woman who happened to be passing by died in a shootout with members of Harfuch’s bodyguard.
“This morning we suffered a cowardly attack by CJNG, two of my colleagues and friends lost their lives,” the wounded police chief Harfuch wrote on Twitter.
City authorities have not yet commented on the motive of the attack. “It must be related to what he did to ensure peace and tranquility,” said Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who expressed support for Sheinbaum and police in the metropolis. Mexican Public Security Minister Alfonso Durazo called the attack cowardly. “It is clear that the work of the police interferes with the strong interests of criminal organizations,” he wrote on Twitter.
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