• SHOOTOUT: Local authorities confirmed that at least 14 civilians and 1 soldier were killed Tuesday during an alleged gun battle near the city of Iguala in the Southern state of Guerrero, a major heroin corridor with some of the highest murder rates in Mexico.
• CONVOY: According to the State government, armed men open fire against a convoy of Mexican military and local police as they were approaching Tepochica, a small community near Iguala; Army troops seized at least 3 vehicles and high-powered rifles from the scene.
• ALERT: “Our police, who are very few, went to the community accompanying the Army”, said Antonio Jaimes Herrera, mayor of Iguala (pop. 110,00), who received an emergency call about the presence of armed men in Tepochica, three miles outside the city.
• MURDER RATE: With a murder rate of 56.5 per 100,000 inhabitants in August (according to Mexico’s Government figures) Guerrero is the seventh most violent State in Mexico; the US Department of State has issued a Do Not Travel advisory for Guerrero.
