Guadalajara, Mexico--Gunmen forced down a military helicopter in western Mexico on Friday killing three troops, as deadly violence erupted across Jalisco state during a new operation to capture drug cartel leaders.
Seven people were killed across Jalisco, including the three soldiers, two gang suspects, a state police officer and a civilian, the local government said, and more than a dozen wounded.
The attack on the Cougar helicopter in the southwestern part of the state came as vehicles were set on fire or used as roadblocks at numerous points in the state, including more than a dozen in Guadalajara, Mexico's second biggest city, where residents were told to stay indoors.
The mayhem -- which also saw 15 people across the state detained and banks and gasoline stations set ablaze -- flared on the day that the military and federal police launched Operation Jalisco to crack down on the Jalisco New Generation Drug Cartel.
President Enrique Pena Nieto said in brief remarks to reporters that the operation was "for the security of Jalisco, in combat against a highly dangerous criminal organization."
Officials say the New Generation cartel, led by Nemesio Oseguera, alias "El Mencho," has grown so powerful that it has produced its own assault rifles in makeshift gun assembly shops and has forged ties with gangs worldwide.
"This (violence) is a reaction to an operation to detain leaders of this cartel," Governor Aristoteles Sandoval told reporters, without identifying the gang by its name.
The military helicopter was taking part in the operation when it spotted carloads of gunmen on a road between the towns of Casimiro Castillo and Villa Purificacion, the defense ministry said.
The gunmen shot at the helicopter, forcing it to make an emergency landing, the ministry said in a statement.
Another three soldiers on the helicopter were missing.
AFP
