Reuters AlertNet Lite - Mexico to try 19 soldiers in civilian shootings

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Mexico to try 19 soldiers in civilian shootings

12 Jun 2007 02:17:24 GMT
Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY, June 11 (Reuters) - A Mexican military court will try 19 soldiers in the deaths of three children and two women at an army drug checkpoint, the defense ministry said on Monday.

The three officers and 16 troops were arrested last week. The ministry said a military judge in the northern state of Sinaloa had ruled there was sufficient evidence to jail them before a trial for the killing of the five civilians.

The shootings came amid pressure on President Felipe Calderon's government to counter human rights abuses by soldiers in a 6-month-old offensive on Mexico's drug cartels.

The soldiers were stationed at the roadblock in Sinaloa state on June 1 when, according to victims' relatives, they fired more than a dozen shots at a car carrying two female teachers, a husband and wife and four children, after the vehicle failed to stop.

One child, a teacher and a man survived.

Sinaloa's top human rights official said all the passengers were apparently unarmed.

Since taking office in December, Calderon has sent an 25,000 troops to violence-ridden states to help corrupt and weak police forces tackle powerful cartels whose feuding killed 2,000 people last year and 1,000 so far this year.

Calderon's stance has won praise from Washington and is backed by many Mexicans fed up with spiraling violence, but opposition politicians and rights activists have accused soldiers of human rights abuses.

Sinaloa is home to the Sinaloa Cartel, headed by Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, who is in a turf war against the Gulf Cartel.

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Last updated:Tue Jun 12 02:18:30 2007