Mexico ambush leaves 10 dead, including 5 federal police

A gang ambushed a federal police convoy in western Mexico, sparking a shootout that killed five officers, three suspects and two bystanders, authorities said Friday.
The attack took place late Thursday as the seven vehicles carrying paramilitary gendarmerie officers were on patrol in Ocotlan, Jalisco state, the federal police said in a statement.
Eight other officers were wounded, including one in serious condition.
It was the deadliest shooting for Mexico's new gendarmerie, a 5,000-strong unit modeled after European military-like forces that President Enrique Pena Nieto launched last year to protect key economic sectors from organized crime.
"We have regrettably had minor losses of one officer in some other events," but never so many in one attack, a federal official told AFP.
The officers were patrolling an agricultural area at around 9:15 pm when a vehicle approached the convoy and "without uttering a word, one of the individuals pulled out a large weapon and shot at the federal agents," the police statement said.
The offices shot back and more gunmen arrived aboard around 10 other vehicles, firing in all directions.
"As a result of this clash, we report the deaths of five gendarmerie division officers and three civilians whose bodies had cartridge belts and tactical equipment and who presumably are part of organized crime," the statement said.
"We regret the death of two civilians," it added.
The statement did not say what criminal organization the suspects belong to, but the region is home to the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.